The Outcast Shadow
by shadowbear
Summary: This takes place years after Shippudden. Peace and prosperity has been brought to the world yet one evil still lingers. See where Don is now and what twists and surprising truths are laid out before him. I give to you the last story of the series.
1. Ch 1 The Loss of a Father

The Outcast Shadow

Ch. 1 The Loss of a Father

Years had passed and things had died down since the incident with Sasuke Uchiha. Konoha was never the same since that day. This great village thrived once again as their new Hokage took leadership. There was peace and prosperity between the five great shinobi nations, however there was an evil still lurking among the shadows in this peaceful world.

"Lord Hokage, you have a visitor." A shinobi said as he entered the office, bowed and presented his leader with news of a guest's arrival.

"Is it her?" he asked intently.

"Yes my Lord, it is her." He replied just as calm and intently as his leader.

He waved his hand aside. "Please, do let her in."

His assistant shinobi bowed and gave a signal to the guest to come in. A woman in her early thirties entered the office. She was a beautiful looking woman; blonde hair, bright eyes, and a curvy body to boot. She wore a black kimono and around her neck was a Sunagakure headband which was also black. The Hokage rose to his feet with the most serious disposition on his face.

"You may leave us now." He said to his assistant, which his assistant bowed with respect and left the two together.

"Greetings Lord Hokage." The woman said in a mild tone.

He looked back into her eyes and saw pain and the persistency to hold back how she was truly feeling. "Please, sit down. I want to talk to you." He gestured hospitably as so she sat down.

"I'm very sad to hear of your loss." He began.

"You have no idea how I am feeling right now, you have no right to speak to me that way. You've never lost someone you truly loved." She replied subtly as if this were the moment she sought best to show her true feelings. Despite this impolite act, he remained silent.

"It's not fair, why did he have to die? Why Shikamaru?" she said folding her arms on his desk and placing her head on top and crying in her folded arms.

The Hokage merely looked at her and placed his hand on her arm gently. "Is he going to be ok? His son I mean, now that Shikamaru is gone, is he going to be ok not having a father in his life anymore?"

Temari looked up with him, tears and sadness still overwhelmed her face yet beneath it all she had a look in her eye of something serious. "Stand up." She said to him. The Hokage looked puzzled at her but did so. "Come here." She said standing up. He walked around his desk and approached her.

"He is your son, Don." She said to him.

He stood bewildered, "You can't be serious, Temari, how can this be?"

She wiped the tears from her face, "In the later years of our engagement, Shikamaru was accepted to the village council. Do you remember that?" she asked.

Shikamaru entered the dimly lit council chamber. "Please, sit down Shikamaru." One of the elders said. He took his seat and the meeting began. "We have accepted you to this board because we require not only your intelligence and wisdom but of something more valuable than you can think of."

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"Is it true that you and the formerly wanted criminal Don were once close?" an elder asked.

Shikamaru remained puzzled, "Yes."

"Can you tell us what he was like growing up?" they asked again.

Shikamaru grunted "You are all making no sense here, tell me what is going on or I will answer no questions."

The council fell silent and looked at each other with serious looks on their faces. "Very well, I think we can trust you to know. You see, since Don had first died, we had devised a plan to create an offspring only containing his dominant traits. He surprised us even more with his resurrection however that was short lived after his assassination, since that assassination, our agenda for this has been pushed constantly to its limits, trying to find a way to make it happen. You see Shikamaru, Don's father was not next in line to become Hokage for no reason you know. Not only was he trained by the former students of the founders of our village, but he has the blood of our founders flowing through his veins. Don's bloodline is too valuable for this country as a whole to lose."

"Then what does this have to do with me answering your ludicrous questions?" Shikamaru asked.

"We just wanted to know if we were making the right decision partially based on his personality. Yes we have heard of the great things he has done but not all of them have been good."

"How exactly did you plan on creating an offspring of Don that has all of his dominant traits?" he asked in curiosity. "We have perfected a delicate and complicated way of gene splicing after conception which would allow us to do so, however the only problem we have had was finding the right couple to bear such a responsibility. This is also where you come in."

"You were expecting me and my wife to bear such a responsibility for you ludicrous old hags?" he said angrily.

"Isn't it true that Don and Temari once were lovers and were very intimate in their relationship with each other?" one of the council members asked.

Shikamaru looked down and sighed deeply. "I see your reasoning behind choosing Temari to be the mother of Don's child." He said angrily. "However do you honestly expect me to sacrifice my own child for the sake of your agenda?" Shikamaru said.

"Shikamaru calm down, he will still be your child only he won't physically show any of your traits." Shikamaru grunted and clinched his fists. "Please Shikamaru we beg of you, please take up this task. We have everything together we just need the right family and we trust that you and your wife will be the right people to give this task to."

He looked down and sighed once more "Fine."

"Thank you Shikamaru, however you must tell no one of what went on here today, not even your wife. When you are ready we will handle the rest." one of the elders said.

Shikamaru got up and slowly walked out of the door. A month later, as Shikamaru and Temari were at a check up; he met up with one of the council members. The council member nodded at him as they watched Temari being led into the back of the hospital. They put Temari to sleep and performed the operation.

Don fell back in his seat, amazed at the story that was just told to him. "Don, now it is your time. Please, help me raise your son." She looked at him deeply. He looked up at her and nodded. "I will."


	2. Ch 2 A New Start

Ch. 2 A New Start

Don sat in his chair and stared out the window. It was a clear, sunny day and birds flying freely in the air. He couldn't help but think back on days like these and all that went on.

~TOS~

Breaking through the gates and out into the open forest he made his way in his own direction. Don, no longer among the living yet not among the dead, was now a free man. A silhouette in this world, he was able to move about how he pleased and vanish into the shadows just as he came.

The first thing he needed to do was buy some new clothing. After a few hours of traveling he came across a small town. Once that he was all too familiar with; this small town was filled with master craftsmen and women, many of whom he used to get his clothes and other furnishings for his house from. He entered one of the shops opening the door and the small bell fixated at the top rang out to alert the shop owner of his presence.

A young girl about Don's age picked her head up from a book she was reading that contained many pictures of different fabric. "Don, is that you?" she asked walking from around the counter and hugging him. He embraced her and hugged her back "How have you been Diana, it's been a long time since I last saw you? How have you been all these years?" he asked.

"I've been doing great!" she exclaimed happily. "Are you here for a small visit or is this for business?" Don smiled back at her. "I'm going to need a wardrobe change. As you can see, these clothes will not do." Diana smirked at him. "Yeah, you look like a bum, what's wrong; none of your father's old clothing fit you yet?"

Diana walked around him, taking his measurement and placed her hand on her head thinking of what she should give to him. "I think I have just what you need." She said disappearing into the back and reappearing with a box. She handed it to him "well, don't just stand there you idiot, open it."

Don opened the box to find brand new vibrant clothing. "Go try it on, I won't peek." She said winking at him. Don blushed and dashed into the changing room. A few moments later I reappeared in his new clothing. He was wearing a solid black shirt; over it was a grey vest with black trimming and grey pants with black trimming as well. On the back of the vest was a fierce looking brown bear and behind it a great oak tree.

"Wow, this is great! How much do I owe you Diana?" Don asked. Diana smirked at him, "It's on the house." He looked up at her, "Really? Thank you." Replying happily. "Hold on there ninja boy, just because I don't make you pay for anything doesn't mean there aren't strings attached. As payment, I want you to take me on a date tonight, my favorite restaurant around eight, ok?" Don smiled calmly at her. "That's fine, an even trade for the clothing you have made for me."

Just then Diana's mother walked into the store. "Don, welcome back, it's been so long. How have you been?" Don bowed to her "I've been doing fine. I just stopped by to get some new clothing and as usual the clothing here has been crafted by only the best."

Diana jumped between him and her mother, "Don's going to be taking me out on a date tonight, isn't that great?" she blurted out. "Oh, that sounds nice. Hope you kids have fun." She said walking into the back of the shop. "Run along Don, I have to get ready for our date." Diana said. Don shrugged and walked around town until he found a place to rest.

Eventually it was time for Don to go pick Diana up so he walked to her shop and walked in. It was dimly lit and all of a sudden a figure caught his eye. Diana appeared from the darkness with a soft pink kimono on with a cherry blossom theme on it. She took his hand, "Shall we go now?" she asked. Don smiled and they left for the restaurant.

The couple sat at their table in silence while they waited for their food. Diana was anxiously stirring her drink around with her straw. "So, Don, what have you been doing all these years?" she asked spontaneously to end the awkward silence that had been created moments before.

"Well, I uhh…" he began, not know what to tell her without freaking her out or making the moment seem strange. "Because you know, I have heard stories about you over the years and most of them very unbelievable." "I…" he began once again, "I heard you hooked up with that chick from that Sand village, you know, the Kazekage's sister, what's her name… Tina?" she interrupted.

"Temari." Don bluntly replied before she could continue. "Oh, so you do know her." She smirked. "You know Don, I have become quite a well developed woman in recent years." She said playfully looking at him and letting one of the shoulders of her dress fall slightly. Don turned slightly red and reached over to fix her dress. She winked at him and quickly withdrew his hand.

Their food finally came and they began to eat; Diana unable to keep her eyes off of Don as he ate. Don just ignored her until they were both finished and it was time for him to bring her back home. Don got up from his chair, helped Diana up from her chair and escorted her home. On the way back to Diana's house she clung to his arm closely. When they reached her door she faced him looking up at him with deep eyes; eyes that much reminded him of Temari's.

"Thanks for a great evening Don, I had a lot of fun. It was great seeing you again…" she leaned in close and kissed him. "Please stay Don." She whispered to him in a soft, yet sad voice. A sudden oddity struck Don. This moment in time reminded him of his feelings toward Temari and his home.

He pushed away from her a split second afterward. "I'm sorry but I can't, I will see you around." He said walking off quickly and vanishing into the shadows of the night. Diana hugged her doorway and sadly slid down with tears falling from her face.

Don made his way west eventually setting up camp somewhere in the forest having Bernatello keep watch for him.


	3. Ch 3 The Bear Cub

Ch. 3 The Bear Cub

About a week later after Don receiving news about his son, Temari returned to the village strolling along the shaded dirt road that led to the gates with her son who was about seven and was in his early years at the academy of Suna; the very same one that Don attended.

Koguma clung to his mother's arm looking in awe at his surroundings; he then tugged her arm. "Mommy, where are we going?" he asked timidly. Temari looked down at him and smiled, "We're going to be living with a good friend of mine for a while. While we are there, you will continue your studies at their academy." Koguma started to whine like any small child would about going to school. He tugged her arm again, "Mommy, what are all those things on the side of the road?" he asked pointing at the towering objects that shaded their path to Konoha. She giggled, "Those are trees Koguma, this land is filled with many of them, and it's not like back home where it's nothing but sand." Koguma looked up at her with an innocent face, "oh." He replied.

Koguma looked up at the magnificent walls of Konoha village. He clung to Temari as the passed through the gates and into the bustling city. He watched as ninja and common folk alike filled the streets going about their own business. "Mommy, where are we going?" he asked sounding slightly frightened of the new surrounding and all the strange people. "Don't worry my son; we're going to go see my friend I was telling you about. I want you to meet him; he's a great man." She replied to him.

A knock came from Don's door and Temari along with her son entered the office. Don greeted them with a gentle smile as he looked down at _his_ son. When Koguma saw Don he immediately darted behind his mother and hid. "It's ok Koguma, this is my friend I was telling you about, he's a very important person to me, come on out so you two can introduce yourselves properly." Koguma poked his head out and then retreated almost instantly. "No, his hat looks like it wants to eat me!" he shouted pointing at Don's Hokage hat the he wore on some rare occasion. Don chuckled a bit and took off his hat to reveal is thick, brown, curly hair. Koguma then started to shout again, "Oh my god! It's worse than I thought; something's growing on his head!"

Don's eye twitched and made the most disgruntled face. "Baby, that's his hair." She said to him and then sighed; Koguma timidly walked around to the side of his mother looking down in shame. "Koguma, this is my dearest friend Don; Don, my son Koguma." Don still having a disgruntled face on him said to her, "You sure this is our kid Temari?" Temari was thrown with shock and anger and hit him over the head for his comment. Luckily Koguma didn't hear the comment for his was preoccupied with other thoughts of anxiety. "Well, it's nice to meet you at last Koguma. Your mother has told me how much promise you have as a young ninja, I look forward to seeing your results. Allow me to show you around the village." Don said happily.

Don rose from his desk and led them from his office; Koguma clinging to his mother's arm once again. "I guess first thing's first; where y'all will stay." He led them to where Temari was accustomed to staying every time she visited the village. He led them into the same apartment which had been part of this story for some time now. Koguma let go of his mother's arm and ran into the back room where Don had stayed in once. He hopped on the bed and looked outside at the large tree outside. Don entered the room and smiled while looking at the tree. "You find that lone tree out there interesting Koguma?" he asked. Koguma turned around and looking timid remained silent. "When I was younger, I used to spend all my time under that tree. It's a great spot to relax when you want to."

"Don, may I talk to you real quick?" Temari called to him in the kitchen. "Be right there," he replied "Koguma, you stay right here for a moment, I'll be right back." Don left the room and entered the kitchen. "Look Don, this is nice and all but, I was hoping that we could live together as a family, after all, Koguma is your son." She said looking slightly sad as a tear fell down her face. "Please may we?" she asked once again. "Yes, you two will stay with me. Come here Temari." He said opening up his arms and holding Temari close as she buried her head into his shoulders and cried. "Oh, Don, I miss him, I miss Shikamaru so much." Don stroked her cheek gently "I know, but I am here now and I will take care of you." Temari smiled and wiped the tears from her eyes and broke free from him. "Let's continue the tour shall we?" she asked chuckling.

She called her son into the room, "We have a change of plans; we won't be staying here, instead Don will be showing us where we will be staying later on in the tour, ok baby?" she said. Koguma nodded and ran to his mother.

They left the apartment and entered the streets once again. Eventually they came to a large campus. "Koguma, this is our academy, this is where you'll be doing your studies soon. We'll make sure you have a good education and become a great ninja." Don said pointing to the academy. Koguma gulped and slightly squeezed Temari's arm. "Off to the next place on our tour." Don proclaimed.

The trio passed over the threshold of a large manor. "Hello? Anyone here?" Don shouted. Just then Hinata came running out with a happy look on her face. "Don, is that you?" she ran up to him and hugged him. "How are you Hinata?" he asked. "I'm great," she replied and looked over his shoulder "Temari, how are you, it's been so long!" she said running up and hugging her. She looked down and Koguma who was still staying close to Temari and knelt down. "Hi, are you the Koguma I've hear so much about?" she asked. He nodded timidly. "You're so cute; you look like Don when he was a little kid. I was his childhood friend you know, like brother and sister we were. If Don doesn't treat you or your mother here well during your stay here, let me know and I'll take care of him." She told him making him chuckle a bit.

"Where's Naruto?" Don asked. "Oh, I sent him out on some errands; he won't be back for a while." "Well we have to get going and get these two settled in. We'll see you around Hinata."

Don led them to the southern part of the village. Koguma looked at all the houses they passed until they reached one that stood out from all the rest. It was larger than the rest and looked more intricate than the rest. Don pulled out his key and opened the door. It was everything that Temari had remembered: The large main open area the sofa near the fireplace directly against the wall ahead of them, to the left was the hallway of bedroom and the bathroom and to the right was the kitchen-dining room area and a door that lead to the garden in the back.

"You two will be staying here with me. Koguma, you can take my old room and the bathroom is across the hall if you need it. Temari you can take the guest bedroom." Then Koguma tugged his mother's arm. "Mommy, can I sleep with you in your room?" he asked timidly. She looked down at him, "Please, just for a little while I promise, just until I get used to staying here." He said looking up at her with sad eyes. Don and Temari chuckled and then she replied "Sure, but only for a couple of days, then you have to sleep in your own room." Koguma nodded.

"Also Koguma, if you or your mother needs anything, don't hesitate to ask me. As leader of a village, I am obligated to help my people as well as my own personal guests." Don said and Koguma nodded to him.

Just then a knock came from the door; when Don went to answer it, an ANBU was standing at his doorway. "Sir, we have something to show you, this is urgent." He said.


	4. Ch 4 Disaster

Ch. 4 Disaster

The ANBU stood at the door; all were silent. "What's the emergency?" Don said anxiously. "A village in the southern part of the country was set ablaze; no survivors." He replied. Don's eyes widened, he turned to his guests, "Make yourselves at home, I have something important to attend to." He said leaving the house and closing the door behind him. Don and the ANBU quickly made their way back to his office where he was awaited by another ANBU.

"Tell me more about what happened." Don said in a serious tone. "A village on the southern border of the country was set ablaze; there were no survivors. In the end, nothing was left." The ANBU stated. "However…" he began, "However what?" Don interrupted. "However from our intelligence we gathered, the fire was not made accidentally, nor was it purposely made by the work of an arsonist; we found traces of concentrated chakra in the scorched village. It was too powerful, too raw to have come from any ninja; this is what is confusing us the most."

Don raised an eyebrow, "Could it be?" he said in shock.

~TOS~

Don lay asleep in his sleeping bag under the night sky. Just then he awoke to the smell of burning wood. He looked around to see a gigantic cloud of smoke with embers flying into the air. He quickly got his things together and went to investigate the fire knowing that there was a village in that direction not too far away.

He hopped from tree to tree until he was a couple hundred feet away from the village. He stood on a top branch of a tree in awe; the whole village was on fire and in the middle of the village was a towering inferno. Don dashed off to the village to see what survivors he could help escape. Don made it to the village and found a small child trapped under some debris. He quickly made hand signs and pulled out an axe, which he cleared away the debris with.

"My baby!" a woman called out as she came running towards Don with her arms open. The woman hugged her child. "Thank you so much young man. Thank you." Don looked at her and quickly said, "You need to get out of here quickly, it isn't safe." The woman nodded and escaped through the gate which was nearby.

All of a sudden the inferno burst with a great explosion and everything it hit was either vaporized in flame or blow apart. "Crap!" don shouted as a tsunami of flame came surging at him. Don blocked his front with his arms and focused all of his chakra to his from body creating a chakra barrier. When the flames his Don was sent flying, however despite that he wasn't vaporized by flame, he was left with severe burns.

Don looked up at the inferno and it took shape. It looked like a titan above all else. He was frozen with fear as he felt like a mere ant compared to it. It reached down for him and picked him up and Don's body began to severely burn; he yelled in pain. Finally the titan opened its mouth and engulfed him; inside its body Don was incinerated.

Don shot up and gasped. "It was only a dream." A calm soothing voice said. Don looked to see a pretty young girl about his age sitting next to him with a cool wet cloth in her hands. She gently placed her hand on his wrapped chest and pushed him down. "You need more rest. Try not to move around or else you will irritate your burns." Don lightly blushed as he lay back down. The girl had long blonde hair, the top of it in a bun; she had blue lagoon eyes and wore an ocean blue dress with sky blue bordering. "You know it's not polite to stare." She said looking at him with a slight blush however looking at him irritated.

"What's your name anyway?" Don asked. "Why should I even tell you?" Don merely smiled back. "So I may properly thank my savior." The girl looked down. "My name is Kamira and it wasn't me who saved you, it was my brother, he found you floating down stream in bad condition. However my brother isn't here right now, he went off somewhere; probably to swim."

Don looked out the window and saw that it was night time and the moon was full. "He likes to swim this late at night?" Don asked. "Yea, my brother is weird. However I won't argue." She replied. "Where am I by the way?" Don asked. "You're in a small quiet settlement called Yuri; we're in the Water country." She said contently.

Don's eyes shot up. "How the hell did I get all the way over here?" he shouted. "Well when my brother found you, you were completely out of chakra and your body was in bad shape. He was heading home anyway plus he couldn't just leave you there or you would have died, plus this settlement if known for having the best medical treatment in the country. We get the occasional visitor with serious illnesses or wounds such as yours and when they leave they are as good as new."

"Your brother must have been quick on his feet." He replied. "Well yes, he is; only when it's raining though, you see he is a master of water elemental jutsu and when it rains, he's created a way to use the wet ground to his advantage and move faster. Lucky for you, it was raining the whole time he was on his way home." Don just shook his head in amazement. "Well, you need to get some rest. I'll be right next door if you need anything ok?" she said pointing to a doorway in view that was less than a foot from the room they were in now.

"Oh. Ok." He replied and smiled at her as she got up and left the room. "Good night." Don said to her. "Good night." she replied.


	5. Ch 5 Ace

Ok guys, I know it's been a while since I last updated but I'd like to get y'alls output on my story. Lately I have been lacking ideas, mainly from lack of time, but also I'd like to know if you guys like it enough for me to continue writing. If the plot so far is bad, all this time I haven't been writing, I have been thinking of ways to make the next chapters better, so just know I am thinking of how to make this story better.

Chapter 5 Ace

Ace walked into Don's room and saw that he was still sleeping. "Damn that boy can sleep, it's almost ten and breakfast is almost ready." He turned around and shouted to his sister who was in the kitchen. "Hey how much longer we have on that food?" She immediately replied to him, "Just another minute, will you wake Don for me?" Ace sighed and grunted and sat next to Don as he slept.

"Hey buddy, food is almost done wake up." He said poking Don to wake him up. Don turned over a mumbled "Oh come on Temari, we both know you are a danger in the kitchen, the last time you made me breakfast you nearly destroyed the whole place." Ace sat there with his eye twitching and he held out his hand and a water ball formed, "Looks like I will have to do this the hard way." He said throwing the water ball at Don and drenched him in water.

"Who the hell did that?" Don said as he shot up with anger. Ace stood up and walked out the room, "Breakfast time you lazy ass." Don stretched and got up to join his hosts at the table for breakfast. "So Don," Ace said "how ya feeling today?" Don smiled, "I feel a lot better than I did a few days ago, thanks to the medicine that you guys have been giving me, I think I might be able to take all my bandages off today." He then looked down with a small frown on his face and ate his breakfast.

"Anything the matter Don?" Kamira asked. Don just looked up and smile again, "Oh, it's nothing." When he was done he did the dishes and walked outside to be alone.

"Why don't you go see what's wrong with him Kamira?" Ace said. "Why don't you?" she replied. "You know I'm no good a guy to guy talk, besides, you two seem to have a liking to each other so it would be best if you went." Kamira pouted, "What exactly does that mean bro?" Ace chuckled back at her, "Just go see what's wrong with him."

Don sat alone in the distance staring down at his ninja glove. The sun reflected off the medal with the hourglass engraved into it. He sighed sadly. How much did he miss home, now adays he regrets being an outcast, how much he missed Suna, how he spent the hot days training and the cold night cuddled up to Temari. However he was supposed to be in the shadows and ontop of that everyone thinks he's dead.

"Hey there." Kamira said as she stood over him and smiled. "Hey." Don replied. "Mind if I sit down?" she asked. "Not at all." He replied. Kamira sat down next to him and gazed off into the distance as he was doing and the wind gently blew through their hair. "Don, what's wrong, you don't catch me as the person who is sad all the time."

Don looked at her and then looked down. "Just a little homesick, that's all." Kamira took a glance at his ninja glove. "You're a sand ninja, wow; you are a long way from home. Why don't you go back after you recover completely?" Don chuckled, "It's a little more complicated than that, besides, I'm on a very important mission currently that I must accomplish first before I even think about going home."

"Why is it so complicated, just go home." Kamira said bluntly obviously unaware of her companion's past. Don sighed, "Well, it's hard to talk about but I actually have two homes; I was originally a leaf ninja but ran away and wound up in Suna, I was presumed dead for a while but little did my old home know was that I was alive and well in Suna and had joined their ranks. However, I'm happier in Suna and I miss it you know? It's a place that I have managed to call my own, grow into the person I want to be and feel that I am not alone."

Kamira wrapped her arms around his neck. "Well, if you need a place to stay, you will always have a home here." Don looked at her and turned slightly red, all he could do is smile back. "I think I'll return home as soon as I'm done with this mission, and return to my normal life and let me tell you, even though I'm supposed to become Hokage when I'm older, I will never hold that job."

"Wait, what? Hokage? You're supposed to be Hokage when you are older?" Kamira said looking in shock. "Yeah, my ancestor was the first Hokage after all, but anyway, I'll never want to fill that job. I swear I'll never become Hokage."

A knock came from the door. "Don, Don, wake up!" a voice called out. Don jumped and sleepily woke up his eyes; Temari had entered his office with Koguma. "Are you ok? It's not good for the leader of a village to be sleeping on the job and what were you mumbling about?" Don rubbed his eyes and yawned, "It was nothing, what time is it and what are you doing here?" Temari put her hands on her hips, "It was Koguma's first day at the academy and when you weren't there, I figured you would be found here and look at you, I found you sleeping on the job."

"Let's go home; I'm tired; I'll fix us some dinner." Don said as he rose from his chair and escorted his family of his office.


	6. Ch 6 Home Sweet Home

Ch. 6 Home Sweet Home

Don prepared dinner for Temari and Koguma and placed their food on the bar. As usual he stood across from his family and ate with them. "Temari." He began sounding slightly nervous in his tone. Temari looked up at him happily, "What is it dear?" she replied. "Recently I have been thinking a lot; I've been reflecting on past events and I have realized how much of a fool I have been in years past and that I haven't always done things right…" "Just get to the point baby, you don't have to beat around the bush with me, you know that."

"I'm going to step down from my position of Hokage; we're returning home to Suna."

Temari froze speechless and Koguma looked up at his half father with awe. "Koguma go to your room, I need to talk to Don…" she said waving her hand. "No Koguma, you stay, after all this effects you two and I thought it would be best if you would know too. You see years ago I made a promise to myself that I would never become Hokage; that I would never become a tool for the government yet after returning home one day from a mission I was pushed into this position reluctantly and I have regretted it every single day I was Hokage."

"Don, you can't just simply step down from your position, the village elders would never let you." Temari said. "Those village elders think they are all high and mighty I however think I have enough support among them to let me step down. After I eat, I'm calling together the elders to announce my resignation. I suggest you pack your things."

Don quickly ate and bolted out the door. "Mommy, are we really going home?" Koguma asked. She smiled down at him, "I…I think we are." She replied to her son. "The glimmer in his eye; something I haven't seen since he first came to live with me when we were younger. I feel that a great burden has finally been dropped from his shoulders."

Don stood among the elders staring each and every one of them down. "So, you want to step down from Hokage? Do you realize how impossible that is Don?" an elder said. "Are you so sure about that? I've seen many more capable men than I to be Hokage and the village still is cautious about trusting after my past history with this village." "Even so, you took an oath to be the leader and do good for this village when we appointed you." Don smirked, "Even a good leader needs to know when to step down even if he has done good for his people."

"You can't fool me Don; I can feel your emotions and they dwell on your old home of Suna. Am I correct?" a familiar voice called out at the back of the table of village council members and elders. "You were always good for seeing right through me Neji and yes you are right. I've done more good for Suna than I have done for this place, me being here is redundant."

"Then who would you suggest that we choose to replace you, hmm?" Neji snapped. "I'm glad you asked." Don replied as the door behind him opened and Naruto walked in. "You've got to be kidding me, that knuckle headed fool would never get enough votes of approval." Neji replied. "Shut up Neji, no one asked for your opinion." Naruto blurted back. Don raised his hand to pacify Neji and Naruto. "Then what in your opinion makes a great Hokage? Brains and power can't be the only thing. The Hokage takes on the duty of protecting his people; he would put his life on the line in an instant for his people if they were in danger. Naruto here has shown his compassion for this village since his ninja carrier began he may not be the brightest or even the strongest but that has never stopped him from putting his life on the line for the sake of this village. I personally would trust this man with the future of this village more than anyone else."

"We will be the judge of that." One of the elders said. "All in favor of letting Don go and replacing him with Naruto, raise your hand." All but the elder speaking raised their hand. Neji smirked at Don. The elder with his hand not raised sighed "Well I guess you are free to go." Don smirked and left the building without a word. He returned to his office and removed his Hokage clothing to reveal his old Suna outfit.

The door opened up and Don appeared at the doorway. Temari looked up from the book she was reading on the couch. "How did it go?" she asked. Don smirked, "Pack your bags Temari; we're going home as soon as Koguma gets back from school."

Temari's face grew bright as she ran up to him and kissed him and this time it had felt like their kisses had once felt when they were younger. Temari ran off and began to pack her bags; Don did likewise making sure to take only what he thought was important.

Hours went by and soon it was time for Temari and Don to pick Koguma up from school. The couple set out from their home and made their way to the Academy. Among the school children, they found their son and greeted him with open arms. Don placed his son on his shoulders and the three of them headed back home.

"Koguma, you hurry up and pack your bags because we are heading home today." Temari said as they entered the house. Koguma excitedly jumped down from Don's shoulders and ran to his room. Within minutes he was back with everything he wanted to bring home with him. The three left the house and without turning back, they headed out the gates of Konaha.

Within days Don could see a sight that he had long missed as well as Temari and Koguma. Don and Koguma stood next o each other and stared at the sand village gates from afar. "Home!" they both said. Then they jumped up with excitement and began to run full speed toward the gates leaving Temari in a cloud of sand and dust. "My men; well I guess like father like son…. Or something like that I guess."

When don was a few meters away he tripped and tumbled in a cloud of sand and dust until he hit the walls of Suna. "Way to go dad." Koguma told Don sarcastically. Just then Temari floated down gracefully on her fan and landed next to Koguma, "Need a little help baby?" Don chuckled at her as he got up and stretched, "Nah, I think I'm good. You know, as much as I used to hate this heat, I missed it a lot back when I was in Konaha."

Don took Temari's hand and the two, along with Koguma, walked through the gates and into the village. "Temari, why don't you go home with Koguma and I'll catch up with you two later; I have to go make a very important visit." He said kissing her on the cheek. Temari nodded and took her son home while Don headed elsewhere.

A knock came from Gaara's door. "Who is it?" he said in his usual grumpy tone. "How's is that a way to greet a returning ninja, reporting for duty?" Don said as he entered the office.


	7. Ch 7 Just Like Old Times

Ch. 7 Just Like Old Times

"You know as well as I that a Kage can't normally serve on the battlefield especially if that battlefield is for a foreign country." Gaara said to Don as Don took a seat. "Yeah, about that; plans have changed, I quit my job and I decided to return to the home that needs me most." Gaara raised an eyebrow as Don said this. "And you came all by yourself?" he replied. "Well no, I brought your sister and your nephew with me."

"So what is it you need me to do for you?" Gaara asked. "Simple, just have Koguma reenlisted into the Academy here and have me put back on the list of missions for this village and make sure I am put back on the Squad list with Rain and Gazu." Gaara smirked and shooed Don out of his office. "Granted, now if you will kindly leave, I have to finish up all of this work."

Don left the office and quickly hurried home; there he prepared a meal for Temari and Koguma. "So how'd everything go with my brother?" Temari asked as the three of them ate. "Well I'm reenlisted as a sand shinobi and Koguma will start school at the beginning of next week. In the mean time, let's just unwind and settle in." don replied smiling. "I really missed this place." He added.

The last few hours of the night were spent infront of the TV; eventually Temari put her son to bed and she returned to Don on the couch for more TV. "Just like old times, isn't it Temari?" Don said. She nodded, "Yeah, it almost seems like yesterday that I had stumbled upon you in the desert and you became a part of my everyday life. In the blink of an eye, I witnessed your death before my very eyes and then your resurrection. Then with another blink of an eye, I gave birth to Koguma and now I'm here again, home, with you." Don smiled at her and then turned off the TV, getting up and walking out the door.

Temari got up and left the house. She looked around to see Don had vanished but then an old thought past through her mind and she leapt onto the roof to find Don lying down, gazing at the stars. "It's so beautiful out here. Nothing like back home. Out here it's different." Temari lied next to Don and joined him in his old habit of star gazing at night.

"Don?" Temari asked him. "Yes Temari?" he replied. "What did you think about when you came up here to gaze at the stars every night all those years back?" Don took a deep breath and sighed the breath out. "A lot of things from what I can remember, I thought of my new life here in Suna, I thought of how things were going back in Konoha, I thought of you…" Temari wrapped her arm around Don and cuddled close to him. "Don, I never did understand why you didn't want me to marry you in the end. I knew you loved me, I know you still do and I still love you as well but why…"

Don interrupted her and placed his finger on her lips. "You remember so little of past events and we promised we would never talk about that again; what's done is done." He shivered slightly, "It's getting a little cold out here; now are you going to come inside the easy way or am I going to have to carry you?" Don asked. Temari clung to him, "Well, only since you offered." She replied winking at him and Don jumped off the roof with Temari in his arms carrying her inside.

Temari and Don walked side by side down the hallway until they came to its end. "We have a busy day tomorrow; we might as well get some rest." Don said turning to Temari. "Goodnight Don." Temari said. Don pulled her in close and kissed her goodnight. After they broke apart, they went into their rooms and went to sleep.

Don took off his clothes and slipped into his pajamas and crawled under his covers and stared out the window in his room at the calm desert sky. He sighed with relief, "Yeah, definitely like the good old days."


	8. Ch 8 Squad Seven Reunited

Ch. 8 Squad Seven Reunited

In the stillness of the night Gazu and Rain were cuddled up together in bed when all of a sudden an incisive tapping noise came from the window. "Baby, what is that?" Rain groans half-consciously. "I don't know," he yawned "maybe it'll go away in a bit." He said. Sure enough the tapping noise stopped but then it was followed up by a loud banging noise coming from the door.

Gazu and Rain shot up from their bed. "What the hell is going on? Gazu, go see what that is." Rain said slightly frightened. Gazu left the bed, grabbing his ninja gear and headed down stairs. Right as he reached for the door, it flew open, knocking Gazu against the wall, being wedged between it and the door.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Don called out as he entered the home. Gazu fell forward causing the door to close. Don turned around when he saw Gazu knocked out on the floor. "Hey buddy, long time no see… oh…" Don picked Gazu up and dragged him to the table sitting him down. Don ran to the kitchen then came back with a glass of water splashing it in Gazu's face. Gazu jumped from his chair in shock. "Don? What the hell? What are you doing here?"

"Don?" Rain said to herself as she walked downstairs. "Don!" Rain shouted as she tackled Don from behind wrapping her arms around his neck. Don turned around and hugged Rain back. "How have you two been? It looks like things have been going well." Don asked as the trio sat down at the table. "Yea, things have been going great, marriage is great and Arashi is excelling in school. How have things been with you Don, you haven't been in touch since the years of your return."

"Yeah, well things have been ok I guess you could say. I've been busy with being Hokage and taking care of Temari and her son. Though recently I decided to have a change of plans and I'm no longer Hokage. I decided it would not only be best for me to move back here but for Temari and Koguma as well."

"The council just let you get up and leave the office of Hokage?" Rain asked shocked. "Well, yeah, I'm lucky I had enough support, though the village is in good hands. Naruto will be Hokage as soon as he is officially pronounced Hokage of course." Don replied chuckling.

For the rest of the time until daybreak, the trio began to catch up on old times, telling stories that shocked and amazed the other. Then the sound of footsteps came from the stairs, "Good morning mommy and daddy." Arashi said sleepily while walking down the steps. "Arashi, look who's here." Gazu said. "Uncle Don!" Arashi screamed as she ran up to Don and hugged him. "I missed you!" Don hugged her back. "How have you been, I trust you are doing well in school?" She nodded, "Top of my class." She boasted.

Don turned to Gazu and Rain, "Whoa, you failed to mention that." Arashi looked at her parents, "I'm hungry, what's for breakfast." Don opened his mouth about to volunteer but Gazu pointed his finger at Don, "You sit down, I got this." Running to the kitchen. "Since when did you cook?" Don asked. "Well, ever since you left the squad, there was no one to cook for us and Rain just fails at working in the kitchen." "Hey, I'm not that bad, it's not my fault cooking is complicated." Rain argued back. "No, cooking is simple; you just make it a life threatening hazard." Gazu replied.

Don gulped, "Should I be worried?" "Nah, she just almost blew up the house a few times but luckily I was there to catch her before that happened. This is why I do all the cooking." Rain pouted as Gazu started to cook. Soon Gazu served the table with four plates of pancakes stacked like a tower. "Eat up." Gazu said sitting down to join everyone else.

Don took one bite of the pancake, "This is the best pancake I have ever had…" Don said subtly. "Nah, not as good as your pancakes, you load those things with chocolate chips and other stuff too and it's so good." Gazu modestly replied. "Yeah, you're right; my cooking is pretty superior." Don said laughing, "Just messing, but seriously, this is a really good pancake."

"So uncle Don, why are here today?" Arashi asked. "Well, I finally decided to move back to Suna so now I'll be living here for now on as well as Temari and Koguma." He replied. "Koguma? Really?" she said excitedly. "Yeah, he'll be starting school soon so you will be seeing him next time you go to the academy."

Then a knock came from the door. Gazu got up to answer it to find an ANBU at the door holding a scroll in his hands. "Are you Gazu?" the ANBU asked. "Yes." He replied. "Here, make sure the rest of your wife as well as a ninja named Don sees this." He said disappearing into a cloud of smoke. Gazu put the scroll in his back pocket and returned to the table. "Who was that Gazu?" Rain asked. "Just a messenger, the three of us have been assigned a new mission but it can wait until after breakfast."

Once breakfast was done, Rain and Gazu told Arashi to go play outside for a while, while the three of them would be going over this mission. Gazu opened up the scroll on the table and the three of them read what it had to say. "Hmm, why does it seem like all of our missions seem to land us in the fire country? But this is pretty neat; we get to be doing business for the Chunin exams while representing Suna." Gazu asked. "We might as well start packing up and leave." Rain said. "Hey, I have an idea, how about you have Arashi stay at my place, Temari will take care of her and she will have Koguma to play with."

The trio dropped Arashi off at Temari's house and they waved goodbye. Don took one last glance back at his home, then glancing at the roof, zoned out.


	9. Ch 9 The Shadow of Suna

Ch. 9 The Shadow of Suna

Don woke to the smell of food the next morning and the sight of Kamira walking into his room to announce breakfast. "Good morning Don." She said happily. "Good morning Kamira." Don replied, "Do you think I will be able to take off the bandages today?" he asked with anxiety. Kamira knelt down next to him and began to unwrap his bandages. "The medicine worked as expected and your recuperation took a few days shorter than expected but yes, your wounds are better and you can take off your bandages, just don't go irritating them or you'll risk damaging your healed wounds."

She gently began to take off Don's bandages at which point Don blushed slightly. "Don, Kamira, come eat!" Ace shouted from the kitchen. Kamira threw his bandages aside and Don put on a shirt and the two of them headed to the dinning room. Ace, Don and Kamira sat down and ate their breakfast.

"So Don, I noticed that you have your bandages off. I'm glad to see that you have recovered from your burns." Ace said. "Yeah, I'm very grateful for both of you taking care of me." "Don't look at me, I just did the cooking, Kamira is the one who took care of you." Ace replied. "Don't mention it Don." Kamira said before Don could let out a word. Don cleared his throat, "Well, since I'm fully healed, I think it's time for me to finally leave and continue on my journey." Don said.

Kamira looked down in sadness when he said this. "Where are you going to go?" Ace asked. "I don't know, I'm just traveling aimlessly right now, meeting people, seeing new places, maybe I'll even visit home again." Don replied with uncertainty in his tone. "Well you know Don, you can also think of this place as a home, so if you are ever in the area, drop by for a while will ya?" Ace said happily. Don nodded.

Don wiped his mouth and got up from the table and then began to wash his dishes then headed back to his room to pack. "Kamira, once he's gone, he's gone." Ace said. Kamira picked her head up, "What is that supposed to mean?" she said defensively. "He may never come back, I just don't want you to regret not saying something before your final goodbyes with him; I'm not that stupid, I see you have a liking for him." Kamira turn red. "I guess you are right." She replied timidly. "Don't I guess me, I am right." Ace said.

Don left his room with his things packed and walked out the door, "Bye guys, I'll miss you, I'll see you around." Ace looked at Kamira with a serious face, "Go, I'll take care of our dishes." Kamira left the table and went after Don.

"Don, wait up!" she shouted. Don stopped and turned around to see Kamira running towards him. She didn't stop until she had wrapped her arms around him and clung to him. "What is it Kamira?" he asked. "I'm just going to really miss you that's all and I'm afraid I'll never see you again." She said with tears forming around her eyes. "Kamira, you'll see me again, I promise you will." He said wiping away her tears.

All of a sudden Kamira shot her head up and kissed Don tightening the grip she had on him. Don wrapped his arms around her and kissed back but then broke free of her a few second later. "You're a great girl Kamira and thank you for taking care of me." Don said turning around and not looking back leaving Kamira behind just to watch him disappear into the landscape.

In silent, cold, middle of the night, Temari sat on the roof of her house and stared at the full moon and the stars that were scattered around it. All she could think about is what had happened. When returning home form the Kage meeting, her and her two brothers spotted a black figure half buried in snow.

"Hey, what's that over there?" Kankuro said pointing to the object in the snow. "I don't know, let's check it out" Temari said. Meanwhile Gaara stood silent and watched as his two older siblings brushed the snow off of the person they found. "It's an ANBU!" Kankuro said in shock. "Not just any ANBU," Gaara replied looking down at the Suna glove on the ANBU's hand. Gaara removed the mask to reveal Don's face. "Don? I though you killed him Temari!" Kankuro shouted.

"I... I thought I did." She replied frantically. "Temari, did you know that Don was still alive?" Gaara said glaring at his sister. "… yes." She said sadly. "I don't take to kindly to betrayers, or liars. Temari, I order you to finish what you started and kill Don." Gaara said angrily. "But…" she started, "I'm ordering you as the Kazekage to kill Don." Temari looked down. "We're going on ahead, you'd better not disobey me or I won't hesitate to kill you for treason, even if you are my older sister; come on Kankuro, I can't stand to see that traitor any longer."

Kneeling down next to Don, Temari took out a knife and held it to his throat. As she did, tears streamed down her face. One drop fell on Don's cheek and he twitched slightly. "I'm…sorry… Temari… for all the trouble… I've caused you…" Don groaned faintly. Temari was trembling tremendously and she couldn't bring herself to kill him. She picked up his body and flew off into the distance with him on her fan.

Temari reached Don's house in Konoha in the dead of night and silently brought him into his house and placed him in bed. She then tended to his wound that he suffered from Sasuke's lightning strike. When she left she noticed a really old trunk by the door but decided to leave it alone and flew of into the distance on her fan.

Temari sighed to herself and wondered what became of Don after he regained consciousness. It was killing her inside since that day because she felt guilty about the whole affair.

In the distance standing on a roof, a shadowy figure watched Temari as she lay on her roof. He made a hand sign and disappeared into a cloud of smoke.


	10. Ch 10 Just Another Chunin Exam

Ch. 10 Just Another Chunin Exam

"Don, hey, wake up buddy" Gazu shouted to Don, breaking his flashback. "What is it?" Don asked as he looked at his teammate. "You ok? You kinda zoned out for a bit there." Gazu replied. Don looked around and noticed the three of them were still in the desert but could see the forest far off in the distance which meant they were a short time from Konoha. When the sun fell and the moon rose, the trio camped for the night. Rain and Gazu slept next to each other leaving Don in his own little area by the campfire.

Don dreamt about the chunin exams he had been in; how clearly he could recall that life fulfilling event. The Forest of Silence; what a piece of cake. Things got a little more interesting when team battles rolled around; of all people to be teamed with; Naruto. Though the final event took the cake; a one on one battle with Naruto himself. He could still remember how much he was holding back his body's desire to tremble with the amount of anxiety that had been built up from anticipation. However because of his fight with Naruto, he did reveal himself and showed the whole village that he was not dead. How much trouble aroused from that. Though that was all in the past.

Don woke to Gazu shaking him. "Time to get up and eat." He said. Don yawned and stretched; he then sat with his friends and ate what Gazu had prepared for them. It took about half of the day to finally reach the towering walls of Konohamaru. Don took in a deep breath of the fresh air and watched the bustling people run by.

"Ok, let's just do what we do best when we come here; let's relax." Don said happily as they made their way to the Hokage building. "Hey guys, glad you could make it. You don't know how much your help is appreciated. It looks like this year will be the biggest chunin exam that we have ever hosted here." Naruto said as squad seven entered his office.

"No problem, we're happy to help." Don said. Naruto smiled. "Well, you guys know where to go and what to do. The chunin exams will be starting in a few days; in the mean time settle in and in the morning I will tell you guys what your assignments will be." Naruto waved goodbye to squad seven as they left if office.

The trio checked into their usual hotel and took their usual rooms. The evening was spent with the trio eating out and touring the village. Eventually Don broke off from Gazu and Rain to go visit the Hyuga family. When it was about ten o'clock Don, Rain and Gazu met up back at the apartment and went to bed.

The next morning while everyone was sitting at the table eating breakfast, a knock came from the door. Don got up and answered it; one of Naruto's assistants was standing at the door. Don let him in and the assistant each handed them a scroll. "You will find your instructions to be quite thorough, however if you still have any questions, do no be afraid to ask them to me, the Hokage or any other assistants."

Each opened up their scroll. "Oh boring." Rain shouted. "What did you get?" Gazu asked. "I'm in charge of living arrangements for the incoming participants." Don laughed at her. "What did you get Gazu?" Don asked. "Sweet! I'm a ref!" he shouted. "What did you get Don?" Rain asked. Don opened his scroll and read through it. "Ha, what a joke." He shouted tossing the scroll aside.

Don yawned, "I'm going for a stroll, see you guys later." Then he walked out the room.


	11. Ch 11 The First Day

Ch. 11 First Day

Rain and Don watched intently at all the challengers from each village fighting each other in the squad battles that were in place for the first round with Gazu as the referee. "There's a lot of strong competition this year. It seems the other villages have finally managed to grow strong enough to hold their own against our genin." Don chuckled. "Yeah, looks like it." Rain replied.

Hours went by and the first session of the chunin exams was over. Many ninja had been eliminated but the exams weren't over yet. The far more interesting one on one battles were to start the very next day. Then a newly created special event would start a month later.

Rain and Don met up with Gazu at the entrance. "Man, am I beat." Gazu said. "From what? All you did was say "begin" and stand around all day." Rain replied. "Standing around has always bored me and boredom makes me tired." Gazu replied. "Though I will say this, I did enjoy the fights; can you believe the other villages have managed to hold their own against sand shinobi?"

"Let's go home, it's been a long day, I'll fix us something to eat." Don said happily as he walked with his two friends back home.

~Meanwhile in Suna~

"Mommy, is the food ready yet?" Koguma cried to his mother as he tugged at her dress. "I told you honey, mommy takes a while to cook things" she said looking down at her son. "This is why daddy cooks instead of you…" he mumbled under his breath. "Hey, show your mother some respect, she's trying you know!" she yelled back.

All of a sudden, the food she was cooking caught on fire and created a huge blaze. Arashi, who was sitting on the couch saw the fire getting bigger and started to freak out. "Mrs. Temari, the fire's getting bigger!" she pointed and screamed. "Crap!" Temari shouted. She ran to the sink and started the water and attempted to put out the fire by throwing water over it, though the fire only got bigger.

"Kids, outside, now!" Temari shouted as she pointed to the door. The kids ran out of the house and right as they slammed the door, they heard a loud explosion. Temari walked out of the house with a disgruntled face and her body was all black. She was coughing from all the smoke that seeped from inside.

"What happened mommy? Are you alright?" Koguma asked. "Yeah, though your father won't be happy that the stove blew up…" she replied. She made a hand sign, spun around as a gust engulfed her whole body. When she stopped spinning, she was spotless. "So, how about we just eat out tonight." She said happily.

Temari led the kids to a restaurant and the three began to eat. "I wonder how my mommy and daddy are doing." Arashi said. "Yeah, do you know how daddy is doing mommy?" Temari looked up, "I'm sure they are doing fine."

"Can we visit daddy and Uncle Gaara?" Koguma asked. "No, sorry baby, both your uncle and father asked me to stay here and watch over you and keep an eye on the village as well." She replied.

"Watch out!" someone shouted and a giant fireball came crashing into the building and exploded. Temari grabbed the two children to shield them from the blast.


	12. Ch 12 Don's Task

Ch. 12 Don's Task

A cool breeze swept through Konoha making it even more perfect of a day for having the chunin exams. The third event was about to begin; even the event itself was only known to a select few individuals. A sand shinobi who was fortunate enough to make it this far stepped into the open stadium wondering who his next opponent may be. Don stepped forward from the shadows and confronted the young shinobi.

"I guess you are my opponent today." Don said grinning. "Wait, what? Are you serious? But you are a jonin! I can't possibly win against you!" the kid shouted. "Calm down for Pete's sake; winning every fight isn't the sole meaning of the chunin exams like everyone thinks. It's showing off your abilities as a ninja as well as potential to see if you would make a worthy chunin. However I won't be going easy on you just because you are just some kid and happen to be from the same village as me."

The young sand shinobi took his stance as did Don. Gazu stepped forward, "Begin!" he shouted. Don quickly made a hand sign and pulled out his earth sword. Immediately the shinobi threw throwing knives at Don which were easily parried. The shinobi jumped in the air and threw one more knife at Don. Don lifted his sword and the tips of the two blades met. Immediately more throwing knives burst from the impact and created a circle around Don.

"Try this on for size!" and a gust formed blowing Don up into the air and kept him trapped in the vortex. The shinobi felt something poking his head. "Looking for something?" Don asked as he poked his head with a stick. "What the hell? I had you!" the kid shouted. The clone which Don had made disappeared in the vortex.

"Here's a lesson for you; not everything is as it seems, a shinobi must be able to see through deception." The kid grunted, smirked and vanished into smoke. "You're right, but so should you!" a voice came shouted from up above him. Don looked up to see the kid falling towards him making hand signs. Don threw a knife at him but missed right as the kid threw his arms forward releasing a typhoon.

"Very impressive jutsu you have there kid, but it still won't be enough." Don said. The kid's eyes widened as he realized Don's voice was coming from behind him. Don grabbed him and finished the job with a hidden lotus only with a twist; he had bombs attacked to him and on impact with the ground they blew up only leaving a few scratches on Don but devastated the kid.

"The battle is over, Don is the winner." Gazu shouted, and then turned to Don. "Did you have to be that rough on him?" "I think I went easy enough on him. Though I don't pass him, he's too hot headed and can't think things through, he needs to train up and then maybe he will have a chance." Don replied walking out the stadium.

He returned to the box seats specially reserved for the Hokage and Kazecage. He stood next to Gaara and watched the rest of the fights through. "Nice job Don, tell me, what was your opinion of your opponent?" Gaara asked. "He isn't chunin material, he's too reckless." Naruto looked up at Don smirking, "Sometimes being reckless has its moments, especially when the person has a lot of heart."

"Tch, whatever, it was my job to fight him and assess him by his performance and I say he isn't ready." A couple hours past and Don was finally back to his room in his house that was in Konoha.


	13. Ch 13 Torture

Ch. 13 Torture

It was a late spring day and Don walked along the dirt road heading to his next destination. After a few days travel, he saw a mountain range towering in the distance. He was close to where he wanted to be. Not too far down the road was a small outpost where Don took a small break, getting something to eat and resupplied before continuing on his way.

He had heard rumors recently of a strange giant appearing at night by some old ruins deep within the mountain ranges of the earth country. To Don, this was something he was looking for. The only problem was that he had no idea how to get there, he needed a map. As he was walking along the small market street he was called out to by a merchant.

"Need something young stranger?" Don then turned to him. "I need a detailed map of this country, especially one that includes major landmarks." The merchant raised an eyebrow, "May I ask as to why you need such a map? There is nothing out here to see, only rocks." Don smirked, "I've heard rumors of a giant appearing at night by some old ruins somewhere and I wanted to check it out for myself."

The merchant's eyes widened in great horror, "But sir, you don't understand, everyone who has gone to those ruins has turned up dead or disappeared." "I understand the danger but I must insist on going." The merchant sighed, and then going to an old dusty trunk pulled out a big map of the earth country and reluctantly sold it to Don. Standing across this street were a couple of leaf ninja. "Did you see that?" one of them said, "Yeah, but it can't be." His companion said. They carefully followed Don as he left the outpost.

Don followed the small mountain path as indicated on the map. The wind blowing through the mountain made an eerie howl as if signaling a bad omen. Eventually Don came to an enormous valley and placed in the center were large ruins. The two leaf ninja watched from a distance as Don headed down into the valley and inspected the ruins.

"Hmm, not much here." Don said to himself as he continued to look for something relevant to his search. Finding nothing, he sat on one of the large rocks nearby. He picked up a small rock and threw it into a pile of rubble but instead of one thump he heard the rock bouncing. Don got up and began to dig through the rubble and found a secret stairwell.

There was no light along the stairwell so Don had to go slow and feel around to make is way down. Towards the end of the stairwell he saw a dim light; at the end of it he found a large chamber with carvings in the walls and lit torches in the perimeter of the room.

"I think these carvings are telling a story." Don said aloud knowing no one was around to hear him. Taking a closer look he saw five giants standing in a circle and next to them was what was made out to be a single man. Some distance over it showed the man striking down each of the giants and banishing them to various corners of the country.

On the other side of the room it showed the same giants protecting people from disasters like rock slides, floods and even fires. To Don, as much as he could understand simply what each story meant, he couldn't any connection between the two stories. What did it mean? How could one wall show the giants as aggressors and the other side as guardians?

On the back wall was a huge carving of one of the giants, carved on its forehead was the kanji for Earth. Beneath Don's feet he realized that there was a huge map carved into the floor. At certain points on the map it had kanji for the words earth, fire, water, air, and wood. Looking closely at where the location was for earth, he pulled out his map of the country and realized that there was a similarity. He knelt down to get a better look to make sure his eyes weren't fooling him.

All of a sudden he was struck from behind by one of the leaf ninja that had followed him and knocked him out. When Don awoke, he was constrained to a wall unable to move. "Well, well, well, look at who we have here; the traitor of the hidden leaf and sand. I don't know how you do it Don but somehow you are able to cheat death so easily."

"Well I magician never reveals his secrets." Don said smirking at them. With that comment, a knife was instantly thrown at him and pierced his chest just missing a vital spot. Don screamed in pain as he began to bleed. "What the hell do you guys want?" Don asked. Another knife was thrown and pieced Don in another non vital area. "Shut up scum." One of the ninja said.

"You know, I'm going to enjoy this, ever since I heard you had betrayed us I had always dreamed of catching you and giving you what you rightfully deserved only to find out that you died, at which point I gave up and lost hope. But now…" he said placing a knife to Don's throat "I can have you all to myself and do with you as I please."

"Man you are a sick twisted bastard." Don said with a small amount of blood trickling from his mouth. He was immediately punched in the face for the comment which caused more blood to come from his mouth. Don was then repeatedly kicked in the stomach and it almost seemed like it wouldn't stop. After the kicking was done he was used as target practice with knife after knife thrown at him and most of them piercing his body; upper torso and his ligaments. By now Don had lost quite a bit of blood and was about to lose consciousness.

"So what will we do with him now?" the ninja's companion asked. "Isn't it obvious? We take him back to the leaf village and reap our reward, we will become village heroes." When Don heard that he felt his adrenalin rush and yelling loudly broke free of his constraints. The two ninja jumped when Don broke free and before they could react, Don slit their throats with one of the knives that were in his body. Don Barely made it out of the valley and collapsed halfway down this mountain with a trail of blood left behind him.


	14. Ch 14 No Word from Home

Ch. 14 No Word From Home

Don woke the next morning with the morning sun hitting his face. He sat up, stretched and yawned and proceeded to make himself breakfast. The chunin exams were finally over and it was time to go home. However something crossed Don's mind; he hadn't heard anything from home. Every time Don would go somewhere that Temari knew of, she would send him five letters a day to tell him how much she missed and how much she wish he'd hurry home.

He wanted to think something was wrong but at the same time he figured she was just busy with the kids or planning some big welcome home surprise. He hoped it was something great, like a nice romantic moonlight stroll or something much sexier but for that, the kids would have to be gone and he dismissed further thought on the matter. He packed his things and met Rain, Gazu and Gaara at the western gates of Konoha.

"Are we all set?" Don asked. "You bet!" Gazu replied happily. "I'm ready to get home and relax; I've been suffering from severe homesickness." Rain said. "Ugh… the paperwork on my desk must be sky high by now. Knowing Temari, none of it got done." Gaara said shaking his head in disgust.

The sand shinobi left the village of leaves and shadows and headed back to the hot and dry desert they called home. After a few days of travel they could finally see the village in the distance. "Why is that smoke coming from the village, is something wrong?" Gazu pointed out. They all rushed for the village gates to find that there were no longer any village gates. The whole village was in ruins and there some places were on mildly on fire but were being tended to by a few sand ninja.

"What the hell happened here?" Don said angrily. Baki came running up to them with Koguma and Arashi clung to him arms. The two children clung to their parents crying. "They took mommy!" Koguma cried, "Yeah, a big scary monster took aunt Temari mommy!"

Don hugged Koguma tightly, "I'm glad you are safe; just try to calm down, what exactly took Temari?" "It was a big scary giant fire monster!" Arashi cried as she clung to her mother and father. Don's face turned pale then handed Koguma to Gaara. "Take care of him, I'm going after Temari, and also send a distress to this location." He said handing Gaara a piece of paper with a name on it.

Don pulled out a small scroll; standing on it he made a hand sign and vanished into a cloud of smoke. He reappeared in front of his family home in Konoha. Don went in the master bedroom in the back of the house that once belonged to his father. He made a special hand sign and with a burst of chakra, unlocked the trunk that was sitting at the base of the bed.

In it he found the armor that was mysteriously given to him years ago by an unknown person, all he knew about it was that it was worn by members of his family in battle and now it finally fit him and was time to wear it. He put the armor on and headed out the village into the distance. Eventually he came to the entrance of a temple that was carved into the side of a small mountain, roughly the size of the one in Konoha that had the Hokage's faces carved on it.

Don entered alone, "Nice of you to join us Don. I was beginning to worry you would not arrive." Don began to run through the temple's maze looking for the temple chamber. He found the large doors that stood between him and where he wanted to be. When Don approached the doors a giant fireball burst through to door scorching them. Don jumped out the way and in the clearing of the smoke, there it was. The Fire Titan.


	15. Ch 15 Don's Awakening

Ch. 15 Don's Awakening

Don was lying in the sand; the calming sound of the crashing waves on the beach and the warmth of a small fire nearby. He slowly opened his eyes to see a young girl around his age staring at him. "Are you ok?" she asked. "Who are you? Where am I?" he asked.

"My name is Izumi. I presume you are Don right? I'm sorry, I saw you unconscious and I was worried so I looked for some identification and all I found was this note and it's addressed to a Don so I assume you are him."

Don looked around and saw he was on the beach; his wounds had been tended to and it was night. He took the note from Izumi and read it. "I don't know. I don't know who I am or how I got here." Izumi looked at him strangely. "You don't know your own name?" she asked. Don glared at her, "No I don't!" he said.

"Calm down, calm down. All I can really say is that by your wounds, you must have gotten in a pretty bad fight and lost so much blood you fainted. Somehow you must have been picked up by someone and ended up on a boat and somehow ended up overboard due to the storm that recently past."

When she mentioned about the fight, Don had a small flashback of him being tortured by the two leaf ninja. A stinging pain returned to his chest where the throwing knives had gone into his body. Don grabbed his wound and grunted in pain. "You need to take it easy. Having your wounds exposed to sea water for so long was not a good thing; I placed some medicine to treat your wounds but you need to rest. In the morning I will take you back to my village and there you can fully recuperate."

"Where is your village?" Don asked. "It's about a half a day's trip from here. I live in Hoshigakure. I come out here a lot to be alone." Don just shrugged and laid his head back on a log to stare at the stars.

Izumi sadly stared into the fire and after a few moments of silence asked, "The glove on your left hand; I guess that means you are a sand shinobi?" Don looked at the glove on his left hand and saw the hourglass of Sunagakure. "I guess so if I'm wearing it. Why?" he replied.

"My father was killed by a sand shinobi when I was little. I can never forgive that village or any of the ninja in it for what they did to my father." She replied angrily. Without any thought, Don took his gloves off and tossed them into the fire. Emily looked at him shocked and speechless watching as his gloves burned in the fire.

"What did you do that for? You are burning what signifies you as a shinobi." Izumi said. "I don't know, but I could see your sad face and I figured it would be best if I wasn't associated with such things." He replied in such an innocent tone.

Don gazed up at the night sky and felt a nostalgic familiarity in the way he felt. Somehow, lying in the sand and staring up at the night sky blanketed by stars felt right.

That night he dreamt of him lying on rooftop with a beautiful blond girl who was slightly older than him. She was resting in him arms and the two of them gazed at the stars together. "I remember the first night that you came to live with me." The girl said. "Really now?" he replied.

"Yeah, you were so fixated on the stars that you ran into me. Before then I thought the stars and night sky were nothing special because I've know it all my life but somehow your fascination with them has made me see the beauty that you see in them." She said.

"Not at beautiful as you are." He said smiling at her. "Aww Don, you are so sweet." She replied and kissed him.

"Rise and shine sleepy head." Izumi called to him. Don opened his eyes slowly to find him in an infirmary. "How are you feeling today?" Izumi asked. "I'm fine… just fine and call me Don please." He replied. "So you remember your name after all." She said half surprised. "Yeah, it was like a weird dream. I was with…. Maybe some other time, I don't want to bored you with a silly dream." He said smirking.


	16. Ch 16 The Land of Bears

Ch. 16 The Land of Bears

"Hey Izumi!" screamed a girl running towards them. "Who is this? I've never seen him before? Is he your boyfriend?" she asked. Izumi turned red "No, it's not like that! I just found him on the beach washed ashore. He has no memory of hiimself so I'm trying to help him out."

The girl was a little shorter than Izumi but she was still the same age as her. In her arms was a white rabbit; she extended one hand. "Hi, my name is Karina, what's your name?" she asked.

Don shook her hand, "I'm Don, nice to meet you." Karina smiled, "Do you like rabbits?" she asked enthusiastically. "Yeah, I do, they make for a good stew." he replied. Karina screamed and hid behind Izumi. "Keep him away from me! Rabbit murderer!" she screamed pointing at him.

"Karina here is a rabbit finatic, she takes rabbits very sensitively." Izumi explained. "What is all the comotion about?" a man said walking up to the group. "Good morning father. I was just waking up our guest. I found him washed up on shore a day ago when I went to the beach."

"I see." The man said.

"Can he stay father? Please? He doesn't belong to any village. Maybe he could become one of us?" Izumi pleaded. "I don't know. I know I'm Hoshikage and all but I have to take in consideration what the people may think. I will get back to you come tomorrow." he turned and walked away.

Don yawned. "I'm going to go take a nap." Izumi turned to him and glared. "You just woke up, how can you be tired!"

Don ignored her and instinctively found a nice shady tree to go lay down under. Izumi just scoffed and walked off with Karina.

Don was walking through the forest casually; he could see buildings off in the distance with a mountain carved with many faces.

A young girl about his age was standing under a tree next to another boy his age. The girl had long magenta hair and black eyes. Her hair was usually in a ponytail buit today she just let it fall below her shoulders. The Boy had dark black hair and blue eyes. He had an angered disposition on his face. Both of them wore Konohagakure ninja headbands.

"You're late." he said. The girl kicked the other boy in the side. "Don't be mean to Don, he's only a minute late."

"You know how sensei is about being late for team meetings." he said grunting from the kick he received.

Before he knew it, Don felt a blow from the side of his face as his sensei punched him in the face with a right hook. "You're late!" she screamed.

Don woke up from his dream in shock, he had broken out into a cold sweat. "Who were those people? What's going on with me?" he mumbled to himself. By now the sun had gone down and the moon was right over head.

"Finally you are awake. I thought you'd never wake up. You are such a heavy sleeper." Izumi said.

Izumi yawned, "I'm tired. Want to walk me home?" she asked. "Sure I guess." Don replied escorting her home.

Meanwhile Karina sat in her room by the candle light writing a letter.

Dear Rain...


	17. Ch 17 Rain's Letters

Ch. 17 Rain's Letters

Rain sat alone in her room by her window. She just received a letter from her friend in Hoshigakure. She smiled as she opened it but her face went of shock and puzzled when she read it.

Dear Rain,

I hope things have been going well. It's been a while since I last wrote you. My father has been

keeping me busy with house chores and ninja training and I finally got some time to myself. I

to tell you, there's this really cute guy who randomly appeared the other day. My friend Izumi

found him washed ashore when she went to the beach, can you believe that? I'm jealous of her

because she's always with him. I think his name is Don, and he has no memory and Izumi-chan

is trying to help him regain his memory. I wish I could just touch his thick, brown, curly hair, just once. He seems to be nice. Izumi's dad is considering letting him stay here. If that happens

maybe next time you come visit you can meet him and all of us can hang out. Maybe you can

bring that guy you like so much, what's his name? Gazu? Well I got to run. Hope to hear from

you soon!

Karina

She looked around to make sure no one was around or watching her and she slipped the letter in her desk drawer and put a bunch of papers over it to hide it.

"It can't be. He's been dead for this whole time. How could he be alive? Maybe she's just talking about another Don. Yeah, that's it. There are plenty of people in this world named Don, maybe some with brown curly hair and maybe a few who have gone missing and washed up on some random shore with amnesia." She thought to herself.

"Rain? Are you up there?" Gazu called to her from outside. "Yeah, I'm coming!" she shouted back at him. She ran downstairs and saw Gazu waiting for her outside of her house. "Ready to go training today?" he asked. "Yeah." she replied.

The two walked towards their usual training ground when Rain asked. "How would you feel about taking a trip with my to Hoshigakure?" Gazu looked at her, "I wouldn't mind, it would be something new rather than sticking around in this hot desert." he replied.

"I want to go see a childhood friend who lives there. Unfortunately I don't have time to go right now. With all the training I have to do and missions I will probably be busy for the next month or so. When I'm done with it all I definitely want to make a trip over there and I was wondering if you wanted to accompany my so that way I'm not going alone."

Gazu smiled, "Sure I don't mind keeping you company."

Gazu and Rain reached their training spot on the other side of the village. "Just try and keep up Gazu, you've been slipping up lately." Rain cooed as the two ninja stood off against one another.

"Bring it on, I won't lose to you Rain." he replied.

Rain quickly made a hand sign and a great flash of light blinded Gazu temporarily. Gazu rubbed his eyes and regained focus and sight in his eyes. He looked around and noticed Rain was gone. "Where are you?" he mumbled.

Then a pair of arms wrapped around his eyes, "Guess who?" Rain teased.

Gazu turned around to find that Rain was gone. "Hey that's not fair!" he shouted.

Rain giggled, "Not my fault you fell for my genjutsu. You really are just one big muscle head, I'm glad we had Don on our squad for what precious time we did have him..." she paused. Her genjutsu faded and a few feet in front of Gazu stood Rain starting to sob.

Gazu walked up to her and embraced her. "I know Rain, I miss him too. I wish things could have been fixed but we just have to face the fact that he is gone and is a traitor to our home."

Rain pushed him away, "It's just not fair! He is the reason why I'm where I am now! He gave me that chance that I never thought I would ever get again! He just went and decided to betray us all and get himself killed!" she screamed with tears pouring from her face now.

Gazu hugged her, "You should go home and rest. We can pick up where we left off tomorrow." he said smiling, offering her his arm. "Shall I bring you home?"

She shook her head and waved her hand, "No, I'll be fine. Thank you though." she replied sadly, wiping away her tears.

Gazu watched as Rain slowly strolled back home. Gazu made his way home as well beginning to reminisce on old times. He too was where he was now because Don gave him a chance he never thought he would ever get. He felt silly how he used to be so tough and bullied people around, especially Don since he was an outsider. He would have never thought in time, an outsider would become one of their own and become his best friend. Strange how fate works lives.


	18. Ch 18 Reorganization

Ch. 18 Reorganization

The next morning Don woke up around eight o'clock, as much as he tried to sleep in, he wasn't able to because of all the noise the villagers were making outside when doing their work or just chatting in he street.

He sleepily dragged himself out of bed, getting dressed and heading out the door. He passed in front of their Academy and stopped. In the schoolyard he saw proctors instructing their students however he saw many flaws and disorganization in it all.

He hopped over into the schoolyard walking to one of the proctors and his student.

"No, that's not the best way to hold that throwing knife." Don said calmly as he took one of his own throwing knives from his back pouch and showed him how to hold it correctly.

The kid took the throwing knife and held it like Don showed him.

"Good, now when you throw, make sure you keep you arm steady and throw like this." he said showing the kid the motion.

The kid nodded and stood firmly, holding the throwing knife just like Don showed him. Throwing it the way that Don showed him, he almost hit the center circle of the bulls-eye that was a few meters away.

"That was perfect!" Don said with praise. "You were so close, just practice maintaining that form and adjust your aim and you will have it." he smiled.

The kid looked up at him smiling. He tried throwing another knife again, this time he hit the target dead center.

"That was impressive." The proctor said.

"Aw, it was nothing." Don modestly replied.

"Well done Don." A voice called to him. Don turned around to see Izumi and her father, the Hoshikage, walking his way.

"You know, for years now, I've been trying to get this village recognized as a superior power but there was always something that lacked. I think you helped me find out what that was. We need a more advanced curriculum for our Academy. Maybe then it would help our chances come the next meeting in a month." he said.

"You should totally become a teacher here Don!" Izumi said happily.

"Really? I don't know, I doubt I could make much difference." He replied softly.

"It wouldn't hurt to see what you could do Don." Izumi's father said. "I've decided, starting tomorrow, you will be a teacher here and you will train your own class of ninja."

"I'll do my best Sir." Don said bowing politely.

The next day Don woke up early before dawn and went to the Academy. He stood alone in the schoolyard and though of what would be a good curriculum for his classes. He was to instruct three levels of classes: underclassmen, middle-class-men, and then upperclassmen; the ones who were in their last year or two before graduation and becoming genin.

He smirked when he thought of an idea.

When the sun rose into the morning sky and his students of all classes joined together.

"Ah, glad to see you all could make it here. My name is Don and I am your new instructor. I need the underclassmen, middle-class-men, and upperclassmen to go where I tell them." He pointed in the direction for each group to go. He then made a hand sign making two more clones of himself so he could handle the three classes at once.

The underclassmen who were the little kids around age six and eight were split up into groups rotating between various exercises. Some practiced throwing kunai and throwing stars while others had lessons on basic chakra control as well as cloning practice. There was also another group that practiced basic taijutsu.

The middle-class-men who were between the ages of ten and twelve also were split up into rotating groups. They practiced more advanced chakra control by trying to walk up a pole that Don had placed in the schoolyard. Another exercise was working on actual jutsu, another was working on more advance taijutsu skills.

The upperclassmen who were thirteen and fourteen practiced being able to walk on water as a part of their chakra control training. Their jutsu now were more specialized and it was all with what best fitted them compared to the middle-class-men who were trying out various elements to see what they liked. The taijutsu was even more advanced, they had to spar against Don himself win or lose, though they all would lose.

After only three weeks of intense training, his students got the hang of things and showed massive improvement. There wasn't one student who wasn't near their goal of being able to accomplish their training. Some were close and others actually could do what they had been trained to do.

On the fourth week, the Hoshikage made a visit to Don's class to see what progress had been made.

"Hello Don, how are things coming along?" he asked with anticipation.

"Oh, hello sir. Things are actually fantastic. In only three weeks, all of my students have made a tremendous amount of progress. From all the exercises that I've been giving for each one of my classes, there are only a few who can't do them completely yet however they are so close to getting it. It won't be long before everyone has their basics down pact." Don replied enthusiastically.

"Hmm, I have to see a demonstration." he said smirking at him.

"It would be my pleasure." Don replied. He called all of his students to attention and announced to them that they were going to be showing them how far they've come for the Hoshikage. All of his students were a bit nervous but very willing for the demonstration.

Each class formed a circle; this was to be their sparing circle to put to practice what they had been learning the past three weeks.

Each student gave it their all and there was much cheering and hollering. There were some close matches and others not so close but all in all there was that mutual recognition of an improvement in skill. Everyone was very confident and sparked the desire to get stronger.

"At this rate, even if the panel of leaders from the other nations says that we won't be recognized as a superpower this year, we do have a good curriculum to help us along for the future. Maybe, just maybe they will see what we've done to our Academy and how much progress has been made and will see potential." He sighed.

"I'm sure they will. This is pretty intense stuff for them and they've shown that they can do it. They've learned the basics. It's just a matter of putting squads together that have chemistry and a jonin sensei who can lead them on and train them up enough for the chunin exams." Don replied happily.

"I wish I shared your enthusiasm Don." the Hoshikage chuckled. He smiled and then walked off.

Don dismissed his class for the rest of the day for a job well done. Don himself went off into the forest the go lay out by the stream and underneath his favorite tree. He was very anxious for the end of the week to see what the results of the Kage meeting would be.


	19. Ch 19 All Coming Together

Ch. 19 All Coming Together

Sure enough, the dice were cast and the players moved forward. Rain and Gazu, bags packed and ready to go, left Sunagakure behind and headed toward the Land of Bears. It just so happen the very day Rain and Gazu were supposed to arrive in Hoshigakure, Tsunade was to attend a meeting there to listen to another proposal for Hoshigakure to become a major power in the ninja world.

Don was gathering fire wood with Izumi and the two were casually talking as they worked to pass the time. "I hope my father is able to convince Konahagakure that we deserve to sit along side them as a powerful shinobi nation." Izumi said anxiously.

"I'm sure he will do fine. After all of the training and hard work this village has done, I'm sure they will see you strong enough to be recognized." Don said happily adjusting his glove with a star on it.

Izumi smiled, "Don't forget, you are apart of this village too, you are part of the family now."

Don sighed, "I know, I know, it just doesn't seem normal that you guys would let me in so willingly. I almost feel as though I have gone through this before, only it was hot and had less trees."

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. You have come a long way and thanks to you, we have more prominent ninja. Thanks to you, we will definitely be a force to be reckoned with this year in the chunin exams." she said.

They headed back to Izumi's house where they unloaded all their gathered firewood and decided to sit on the porch and take a break. Her father, the Hoshikage, came walking out of the house dressed professionally in his kage style robes.

"How do I look Izumi?" he asked. Izumi smiled at her father, "You look fine, just calm down." she replied.

"I can't help myself, I really do feel good about this, if I succeed, then our village will finally be recognized and we will become even more powerful and our people will be happy. I just don't want to screw this up." he said anxiously.

"You'll do fine, Sir. Just stay confident and express your enthusiasm about how much you want this and why." Don said.

"Thank you son. I still have plenty of time before the Hokage herself arrives. I should go find a place to calm down and gather my thoughts." he said walking off to do what he said.

"If anything, he should be able to talk about how our Academy is up on its feet and has a good curriculum going with promising results." Don said laughing.

"Yeah, all thanks to you." Izumi said blushing.

"I guess so, but it really helps when your students have as much tenacity and determination as everyone in this village has." he replied trying to sound modest.

Don summoned Bernatello and he let Izumi play with him. She treated him like he was her own pet. Bernatello enjoyed the interaction, it was something different compared to fighting all the time. Getting pampered and attention was something he rarely got. Don smiled getting up and leaving. He walked through the woods until he found the stream he usually sat by, under the tree he had picked out to be his usual resting spot.

He sat under the tree and stared into the water and drifted off into his mind eventually falling to sleep. Don stood in the darkness and looked around him. Above him was a pair of deep shining red eyes. When he looked down, a boy around his age, with black hair and red eyes, stepped out from the darkness with his blade drawn. Don heard the crackle as lightning surged through his blade. Next thing Don knew, in the blink of an eye, the boy had dashed forward thrusting the blade through Don's heart.

Don woke up with shock and broken into a cold sweat. The nightmares still hadn't stopped even after all this time. He didn't know what they meant; it was full of places he didn't recognize and full of people he didn't know. He crawled over to the stream and splashed his face with the cool fresh water.

"Alive and well I see?" A boy called to him. Don turned around to see the same guy who was in his dream a few moments ago.

"Who are you?" he asked. The boy just smirked.

"How could you have forgotten who I am? After all, we were once buddies." he said pointing his blade at Don.

"I don't know what you are talking about." Don said.

The boy stepped forward, his eyes turned deep red and he placed his hand to Don's forehead. "Hmm, it seems you have lost your memory. I guess a Sasuke Uchiha doesn't ring a bell does it?" he said.

Don thought upon the name for a moment and a very faint image of him and Sasuke training together popped into his head; they were younger then, bother still leaf ninja. However even by that faint glimpse, he still couldn't process it enough to remember anything.

"I don't know. Nothing is coming to me." Don replied.

"Hmm, what a shame. I would try and unlock the memories myself however it seems that your subconscious is too locked up tight, even for me." Sasuke replied.

"What is it that you want?" Don asked as Sasuke backed off.

"Nothing in particular, I just wanted to check up on an old friend. I happened to be passing through the countryside when I sensed your all too familiar chakra, so I decided to see how you were." Sasuke said.

"You should go, before someone sees us two together. It's dangerous for me to be associated with a criminal." Don said.

"Ah, so you do remember?" Sasuke smirked.

"No, I just know that from common knowledge. Every country has a bounty on your head dead or alive. I can't imagine how I am friends with you." Don grunted.

Sasuke just smirked back, "You will understand once you get your memory back, not to mention you know yourself you are no match for me and if I wanted to, I could pierce your heart with my blade." he said pressing Don's chest, where his heart would be, with his blade.

"Take care old buddy." Sasuke smirked disappearing.

There was a loud explosion off in the distance coming from the village. Don looked over and saw a large black cloud of smoke rising into the sky.

"What's going on?" he said anxiously as he ran off towards the village. When he got there, buildings were either reduced to rubble or on fire and people were running around in a panic. Don immediately began to help people evacuate the village. He heard a loud thump and the earth shook slightly. Don looked around but saw nothing. He continued to run around getting people into parties and sending them off in to an escorted direction.

When it seemed like everyone was gone, a thought crossed his mind. "Izumi!" he shouted.

He began to search frantically around the village for her calling her name. Time went by and he still couldn't find her. He still kept looking for her searching through all the destroyed buildings until he came upon her house.

When he approached the house, it was nothing but a pile of beams of wood and small embers beginning to cool. He caught sight of a hand that was hanging out of the remains of the house.

"Izumi?" he shouted and he ran to where the hand was and began to dig, tossing anything and everything that was in his way aside to get to her. When he cleared the debris, he found Izumi. She was slightly black from all the smoke and had minor burns.

She wasn't moving, "Izumi? Wake up." Don said carrying her out of the debris and laying her out on the ground. She did not answer. Don began to panic and then ran to the nearby well. He came back and poured some water on her face hoping to get a response but she remained motionless.

"No, please don't be dead, please don't be dead!" he began to shout. He checked her pulse but there was none.

He heard the loud thump again and felt the ground shake once again. Don turned around to find himself face to face with a gigantic monster, this was the earth titan. It roared and sent its fist hurtling down towards Don. His eyes widened; he was going to die. In an instant his whole life flashed before his eyes and everything came back to him; he remembered.

He tossed Izumi's body to the side and took a defensive stance to block the punch, he made a hand sign and was instantly surrounded by wooden armor. He raised his arms to block the gigantic fist, when the fist landed, Don was smashed into the ground creating a crater.

The titan turned and disappeared.

A few hours later Don woke up, his armor gone and his memory now back. His mind was spinning around in circles from his mind putting together new memories with the old.

"Izumi!" he thought to himself. A few meters away was Izumi. He ran up to her and held her in his arms. Tears trickled down his face as he held her close.

A few moments later, Tsunade with two of her ANBU escorts, Rain and Gazu approached the scene seeing Don with Izumi dead in his arms.


	20. Ch 20 The Cheater of Death

Ch. 20 The Cheater of Death

Tsunade and company along with Rain and Gazu stood shocked when they saw Don at the scene. When Don saw them, his body became frozen.

"You! What are you doing here? You are supposed to be dead!" Gazu shouted as he rushed towards Don with his swordsman summoned and ready to decapitate him.

Don reacted by pulling out one of his earth swords to block the attack. The two blades met and Gazu and Don glared at each other. Don then managed to push Gazu's puppet back however Gazu just became more determined to kill Don.

"Gazu, hold on, let me explain." Don shouted at him as he fended off Gazu's furious attacks.

"You've lost your chance for explanation Don. I'm going to finish what Temari obviously failed to finish." he shouted back hacking away at Don but made no successful blow.

He then ran around his puppet while Don was distracted fighting it and rammed into Don knocking to the ground and his sword from his hand. The puppet raised its sword and right before it was about to stab him Tsunade rushed Gazu, punching him hard enough to send him skidding across the ground.

"That's enough." She said.

"What the hell Tsunade? Why are you protecting this traitor?" Gazu shouted at her.

She sighed, "I have a very good explanation for all of you if we all can just calm down and find some place quiet to speak."

Don made a hand motion and a tiny wooden house sprang from the ground. The house had no windows, only one door; here they could talk in private. They all entered and sat down at the large table that was placed in the middle of the room.

"Explain to me what the hell is going on here?" Gazu barked.

Rain remained silent, she stared at Don not believing her eyes. Don would occasionally look over at her but then would return to looking at Tsunade who was trying to explain the situation as best she could.

"Do you guys remember one year after Don's actual death I told you Kabuto was after some immense power that lied with Don's family?" she began.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Gazu asked.

"It seems that there are other powers that are the same as the one that Don has hidden away. Kabuto found out about this and after his failed attempt to get it from Konaha, he set out to find the other powers to control for himself."

Don remained silent hoping that his friends would be able to make sense of this. He had been on this mission for what seemed like forever.

"What kind of power are we talking about?" Rain asked, breaking her silence.

"That is a question best suited for Don." she replied.

All eyes fell on Don. Don took a deep breath.

"There is a jutsu, a very old and forgotten jutsu that allows a ninja to summon great and powerful monsters or titans as I call them. There are five five titans each manifested with an element: Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Wood. Each titan can only be summoned by an individual, it is not the type of summoning anyone can learn. It turns out, my family was chosen to be able to summon the wood titan. However just because my family was chosen to be able to summon the wood titan, not everyone in my family was able to. There was a puzzle to be solved in the scroll that instructs you how to summon the titan. I think I may have solved the puzzle so I can summon it." he said.

"Wow, that's very intense. I would have never guessed a power like this existed." one of the ANBU said.

"I was sent on a mission to find out information about these titans and see if I could prevent Kabuto or anyone else from gaining control of that power and destroying everything in the world. I managed to find temples in each major country that told the story of the titans which is how I began to understand the reason why I had to somehow stop the titans from being summoned and used to destroy everything. However from what I can tell, there are only four people alive currently who can summon a titan."

"Wait, Don, if there are five titans, how come you said there are only four people alive who can summon a titan?" Gazu asked.

Don smirked, "Do you remember not too long ago how Sunagakure was being plagued by those sandstorms?"

"Yeah, they were really bad, the worst I've ever seen. They caused a lot of damage too." he replied.

"Yes, well they were caused by the wind titan. When I heard that home was being plagued by abnormally strong sandstorms, I checked it out. The titan was being controlled by some little punk who hated Sunagakure and wanted to stir up a little trouble. When I tried to stop him, he insisted on fighting me..." he paused for a moment and his face turned serious and dark, "So I killed him."

The room fell silent.

"Did you ever complete your mission?" Tsunade asked.

Don shook his head, "No, I have one place left to visit. I've been trying to avoid it as much as possible because of it's location."

They all looked at him curiously. "Where is this place located?" Gazu asked.

Don sighed, "I have to make a trip past Konahagakure however recently it seems as though someone beefed up security to protect the village within a 100 mile radius. Getting past the security will be tricky but I think I can manage."

"And as you know Don, since the day that you took this mission, I can't help you." Tsunade said.

"I know." Don replied.

"You know this is all fine and dandy about saving the world an all but this still doesn't explain why Don was in the Akatsuki." Gazu said.

"I can explain that." Tsunade said. "I sent Don as an undercover intelligence agent to join the Akatsuki. I needed someone on the inside to help figure out how I was going to pick them apart piece by piece. I told him he was on his own and he would be treated like a criminal and traitor if and when he got caught. If he would have been caught, I would have had him executed."

Gazu and Rain's faces turned pale. "Wow, you were really serious about this stuff weren't you Don?" Gazu asked.

Don looked down, "Yes, I was." he said sadly bowing his head in humility, "Please forgive me for all that I've had to do. I did it so I could protect the ones I care for. I take full responsibility because I was willing to make the sacrifice knowing in order to save my loved ones, I would have to betray them. Please, I beg you, forgive me. I'm very sorry."

He kept his head down and then felt Rain hugging him. "I forgive you Don." She said softly kissing him on the cheek.

Gazu held him in a neck lock "I guess I can forgive you." he chuckled.

Tsunade smiled seeing Don and his squad together again and the damage undone.

"I hate to break up such a touching moment but there is one last thing I have to say before we all go our separate ways." Tsunade said her face turning very serious.

The three sand ninja looked at her as did the ANBU.

"Everyone in this room is to forget everything that happened here. As far as I'm concerned, Don is still dead traitor. If anyone asks about what happened here, you tell them that we are investigating it."

They all nodded.

Everyone headed outside, Rain and Gazu heading off in one direction, Tsunade, her two ANBU and Don heading in another.

"You two go on ahead, I have something to say to Don." Tsunade said.

The two ANBU nodded and kept moving ahead.

Tsunade hugged him tight, "I'm so glad you are still alive after all this time. I'm sorry I've had you endure so much pain." A tear fell down her face and she wiped it away. "I know it's not what your father would have wanted me to do, but I know he would be proud of you." she smiled.

Don hugged her back. "I'm sure he would. My fight isn't over yet so don't be going soft on me now ok Aunt Tsunade?" he smirked.

She flicked him on the head and Don grabbed his forehead in pain. "You know I don't like it when you address me as your aunt."

Don chuckled, "I know, I'm just messing with you."

"Make sure you stay a safe distance behind me and my guards and then I wish you the best of luck getting past my patrolling ninja. Also Don?" she said.

"Yes?" he asked.

"If you successfully manage to reach that temple, come see me and there is a full pardon waiting for you." she smiled.

Don smirked. "Ok."


	21. Ch 21 Sachiko

Note: I don't own Sachiko, she belongs to my friend RyuKazuki who has allowed me to use her in my story and I thank him for that.

Ch. 21 Sachiko

Don followed a safe distance behind Tsunade and her escorts for some time and then eventually broke off his course to head towards his destination at his own pace. Above the treetops, he could see the village walls in the distance. He had no trouble slipping past all the ninja that were hidden waiting for unexpected visitors. He needed to head to the land south of the village, unfortunately with the little time he had, a more direct route would be cutting past Konahagakure, so he did so.

A girl with magenta hair was strolling alone in the forest outside of Konahagakure; she thought about her past two teammates who had deserted the village but above all, she thought about Don. She froze when she felt a faint familiar presence fly by. She looked around frantically. She knew that presence even after all these years; it was Don.

She had a faint grasp in which direction Don was heading and quickly followed it. Don was ignorant that he being followed because he was too focused on reaching his destination.

Eventually Don slipped into the land that was south of Konahagakure. He came to a stop when he came to a small mountain, one that was about the size of the one in Konahagakure which had the Hokage carved on it. However carved into this mountain was a temple entrance.

He sighed to himself, "Well, this is finally it. The final piece of the puzzle." He then entered the dark mountain temple. Sachiko a short time afterward reached the temple and stood outside puzzled.

"Why would he come here? Did he go inside?" she thought to herself. She cautiously took a few steps into the temple.

Meanwhile, Don managed to make himself a torch and lit it. He navigated his way around the temple until he reached the main chamber which, like the other temples, had carvings on the floor and walls. The fire titan was the most revered, the most destructive of the titans. It also shared residence with another titan; the wood titan. Their occupancy much resembled the founding of Konahagakure; it was founded by the first Hokage and a Uchiha. Wood and Fire.

Sachiko called out into the darkness, "Hello? Is anyone in here?"

Don's head shot up when he heard the familiar voice. "Crap! Someone found me!"

Sachiko went into the temple even more seeing a dim light. She entered the chamber that Don was in. The light shone on Don's face dimly so it was hard for Sachiko to tell if it was really him or not.

"D...Don? Is that you?" she asked with hesitation.

Don threw his torch on the ground and extinguished it. Now it was pitch black in the chamber and he ran past her towards the entrance. Sachiko, when she realized he was running for the entrance, chased after him.

"Don, wait up!" she called out to him as she could make out a silhouette getting closer to the entrance.

Don made a hand sign and a wall of earth shot up behind him halting Sachiko's advance. She pulled out an explosive tag and blew up the wall. She shot out of the debris quickly and grabbed Don's arm stopping him where he was.

"Don is that you?" she said with tears about to fall down her face.

"I don't know who you are talking about." Don replied.

Sachiko turned Don towards her and she felt his face and ran her hand through his hair. She may not have been able to see him well because of the darkness but she could tell it was Don. She hugged him tight and tears streamed down her face as she began to cry.

"It is you. I thought you were dead." she cried.

"I am dead." Don replied with a cold tone.

"No you aren't!" she screamed. "You're alive and right here in front of me, there is no mistaking it! I know your presence anywhere!"

Don pulled our a kunai and held it to her throat. "No one is supposed to know I'm still alive. At all cost, the unfortunate person who finds me out would be killed."

She cried even more, "I know you wouldn't. The Don I know wouldn't harm the one he cared about, especially when the one cares about him even more than he could ever know."

Don let down his kunai and put it away.

"For the longest time I have suffered the pain of a broken heart. The ones I love were ripped away from me so quickly. They either died or remained unwanted to be found for what seemed like forever. Now that I've found you, I'm not letting go. I love you Don!" Sachiko cried out.

"You have to forget your feelings for me Sachiko. You should forget I even existed, you should forget you even saw me here." Don replied.

She hit his chest, "No! I won't! I wouldn't dare! I love you Don, I have always loved you and I never want to lose you again! My heart has been destroyed too many times from seeing you die!"

"I have to go." Don said breaking from her and beginning to walk off only to have his arm grabbed again and him jerked to a stop. He sighed and turned to face her.

"Please. Don. Don't go. I don't ever want to be separated from you ever again." she said softly and sadly.

Don embraced her, wiping the tears from her face gently. "I know, but I'm on a mission right now and I have to do it alone. I will return one day. I promise." he replied kissing her making Sachiko turn a deep red. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed back. He heart was skipping beats and Don felt the ice around his heart beginning to melt. The guilt and pain that had damaged his heart was slowly fading away.

He broke free from her and stroked her hair. "I'll hurry as fast as I can and will return to your warm embrace." he said.

She sniffled and nodded. "Please..." she replied.

A thought had crossed his mind; what about Temari? He couldn't help but frown. Enough damage had been done and he couldn't keep her waiting forever. By now, he would want her to move on. Hopefully she had, there were better men for her out there like Shikamaru. He knew they would work out, his time with her was over.

The two of them walked out the temple with Sachiko clinging to his arm. Don turned to her and gave her one final kiss before sending her home.

"I've completed the final task of my mission but I need to put all the pieces together before I can safely say I'm done. I will see you soon Sachiko. Remember, no one must know I'm still alive." he smiled at her.

She smiled and nodded back with teary eyes and ran off back home.

Don sighed with relief, now it was time to put together everything that he had uncovered during his mission. Don then slipped back out of the country returned safe house he had created in the Land of Rivers. There he put together the most important scroll he would ever deliver in his life.


	22. Ch 22 Special Delivery

Note: I don't own Sachiko, she belongs to my friend RyuKazuki who has allowed me to use her in my story and I thank him for that.

Ch. 22 Special Delivery

Don sighed with relief as he closed the scroll and tied it tight. It had taken him weeks to put everything together into a organized and detailed report. It was time to turn it in to Tsunade, the only trick would be making it to her office without being killed at the front gates. Nonetheless he knew things would turn out ok so he grabbed everything he had and left for Konoha.

A couple of days later he approached the gates of his birthplace, taking a deep breath in he bravely took his first steps through the gates. Two ninja who always sat by the gates and watched for visitors caught sight of Don and stopped him realizing who he was. They were both shocked but weren't shocked enough not to hold a knife to his throat.

"How bold of you to just waltz into our village traitor." the first ninja said.

"Last I heard, you were dead. Someone slipped up somewhere; allow me to finish the job." the other one said.

"You two can't afford to kill me. I have something Tsunade needs, I have strict orders to deliver it to her myself. Kill me and you will suffer the consequences." Don replied calmly.

"What could you have that she could possibly want?" the first ninja asked.

"I certain scroll, and to say much more and I would have to kill you two." Don replied smirking.

"You, kill us? I'd like to see you try." The other ninja said.

Don vanished into a cloud of smoke and he reappeared behind the two ninja delivering a non lethal stab to them in the back with two knives. They both fell to the ground allowing Don to go about his business. Bystanders watched in fear as they saw Don walking casually down the street. Eventually he reached Tsunade's office.

Tsunade looked up from her paperwork as she heard a knock come from her door.

"Please come in." she calmly said.

Don walked in calmly smirking at her. He placed the scroll on her desk. "Mission accomplished. You have no idea what I had to go through to get you that."

Tsunade rose from her seat and looked down at the black scroll which sat on her desk. She walked around her desk and hugged Don. "I'm glad you are back safe and sound. Your father would be proud. This village is indebted to you for your work."

He broke free from Tsunade, "Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm tired. I'm going home. I have some things I need to straighten out."

"Don, wait." Tsunade said. Don stopped and turned to face her. "Refrain from returning to Sunagakure for a while. If you just casually stroll in there and think everything will be ok, you are wrong. You know as well as I they will kill you if the proper steps aren't taken. So please, let's take one step at a time to repair the damage that has been caused."

Don thought to himself for a moment and sighed. A small tear fell down his cheek, he had thought it was all over but he only had to wait longer to have everything back to normal. He wiped the tear from his face. "I will just head to my house then." he replied.

"I send word that you are alive and have a full pardon. Just stay strong and things will get back to normal." Tsunade said.

"I'm thankful for that however what's the point in having a pardon if no one forgives me. Remember, I betrayed two of my homes and became and international criminal." Don replied.

"Rain and Gazu forgave you." Tsunade replied, "It may take everyone else some time but they will forgive you in time."

Don said nothing and walked out her door. He then returned to his home on the southern part of the village. He opened the door and found it empty, just as empty as it always was.

"Just how proud of me are you dad, if you are even at all? You've always preached to me to never betray your loved ones and I did just that. Is it still legitimate even if it was for a higher cause?" he said to himself as he closed the door and resettled in his old home. He didn't leave the house for the rest of the day nor did he leave the house the next day. He spent that time sleeping and cleaning the house.

On the third day after his arrival, he heard a knock come from his door. Don got out of his bed to find an ANBU agent at his door.

"Hello Don, I'm here to report that your pardon has been successfully reported to all parts of the village and you have been taken off the bingo book so you are no longer in any danger of being killed."

Don yawned, "Well that's good to know." closing the door in the ANBU's face and returning to bed. Right as he got in bed another knock came from his door. When Don answered the door, Sachiko jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. Don embraced her and kissed he back.

"Welcome home Don." she said happily hugging him tightly.

"It's good to be back." he said, just then his stomach growled.

"Looks like someone's hungry." Sachiko teased.

"I haven't eaten in two days, I've been resting since I came back." he replied, then Sachiko's stomach growled.

"Looks like I'm not the only one." Don teased back.

"Hey, I couldn't help it, when I heard that you were pardoned I just had to rush here to see if you were really back. I can't help it I forgot to eat." Sachiko replied.

"We'll just go to the market to get some things and I will make us breakfast here." Don said.

"Yay!" she shouted.

Don locked up and the two of them went to the market with Sachiko wrapped around Don's arm. However while walking to the market he noticed the glares he got from people. On the way they could see the Hyuga residence some distance away. Neji was sitting on the porch watching the couple as they approached. Don had Sachiko wait while he went up to greet Neji.

"Step on this porch and I will kill you." Neji said to Don.

"You can't be serious. Haven't you heard? I have a full pardon, you should know my reasons were for a higher purpose." Don replied.

"Full pardon or not, you've hurt a lot of people. Betraying your loved ones isn't something that can easily be forgiven." Neji replied.

"Which is why I'm here to try an make amends, to explain myself and fix things." Don replied.

"None of us in this house want to hear what you have to say. If you still want to live, I suggest you go about your business." Neji replied.

"Neji, who are you talking to?" Hinata called from inside the house.

"It's nobody." Neji replied. Just then, Hinata walked outside and saw who it was. Just like everyone who Don had seen, she glared at him.

"Hinata, I want to talk with you..." Don said but was cut off as she turned around and went back inside.

Don tried to take a step forward for Neji repelled him with his gentle fist attack. Don fell back trying to catch his breath. Sachiko came to him and led him away from the house. Don's face lost all color and emotion. Eventually the two made it to the market, they got the things they needed and returned to Don's house to make breakfast; still his face had no life in it.

Don sat at the counter with Sachiko and stared at his food with no intent on eating.

"Don, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Did you see the way she looked at me? She glared at me and just walked away. She didn't even say anything to me. I thought she would understand. Have I lost her forever...?" he said sadly with tears running down his face.

"Give them time. They will come around..." Sachiko started.

"No! Things won't get better. Turning your back on your friends is the lowest thing you can do, it makes you worse than scum. I should have died all that time ago! How can I ever hope to fix things." he cried.

Sachiko got up from her bar stool and wrapped her arms around Don. "Don, they are just hurt, give them time to heal. They know you would never do anything intentional to hurt them. They know that deep down, but they were kept in the dark for so long. The past couple of years of you being the enemy has sunk in so quickly and so deep, it's going to be hard to think otherwise."

"Then how were you able to forgive me so quickly? How come you came after me? How come you didn't even bother to question me why I betrayed my home?" Don asked.

"Because, you and him* are so much alike, you both are goodhearted and unfortunately you both live in a world of shadows. It's how things are but you both have powerful comrades that will stand by you no matter what. Don't think for a second that you have lost anyone here or in Suna. They just need time to heal from all the pain they've suffered." Sachiko said soothingly and stroked his hair.

Don sighed picking up his fork and began to eat. Sachiko smiled and sat next to him and began to eat once again. She smiled at him, "I missed your cooking, it's the best." Don turned to her and gave her a tiny smile back.

Gaara sat at his desk doing paperwork when a messenger hawk swooped in and dropped a letter on his desk. Temari just so happened to be in the room trying to kill her boredom by attempting to harass her brother however Gaara's ignoring skills were far beyond any normal person. He opened the letter and read it and his face showed a sign of anger.

"What's it say?" Temari asked.

"Read it for yourself. Watch the village for me." Gaara replied as he got up and left the room.

Temari picked the letter up and couldn't believe her eyes when she saw what the letter said. It was from Tsunade; she wrote that Don was alive and well and had received a full pardon in Konahagakure. However given the person and a situation that was too sensitive to discuss unless it was private, Gaara would need to come to Konahagakure for a special meeting to talk things out.

Temari sat in Gaara's chair in shock. This was big news to her and it was a lot to take in. However it was hard to be so surprised, after all, she was the reason why he was still alive...


	23. Ch 23 Worse Than Scum

Ch. 23 Worse Than Scum

Don woke up early, got dressed and ate breakfast. He was to report to Tsunade's office for ten o'clock like she has requested of him a couple of days back. As such, when he was done eating, he headed out the door and made his way to Tsunade's office unsuspecting of who was waiting for him.

Don walked up the steps and down the hall until he saw Tsunade's door. He wrapped his hand around the doorknob and opened the door entering the room. Immediately he was constrained by a coffin of sand covering all of his body but his head.

"Tell me why I shouldn't kill you right now Don?" Gaara said at him glaring.

Don tried to talk but when he opened his mouth, he could get the air to talk. He could feel the grip on him tightening more and more.

"Gaara take it easy on him. You don't intend to really kill him do you?" Tsunade asked.

"Stay out of this Lady Tsunade, Don no longer concerns you; not since since the first day he ran away and became a sand shinobi. I am his leader, I will deal with as as I must. He is a traitor to his home and my home as well. You may be more lenient on traitors like Don Lady Tsunade but I show no such mercy." he said tightening his grip on Don.

Don started to turn red from lack of air, he grunted when the grip on him was tightened.

"How am I supposed to truly believe that you are one of us anymore. The way I see it; you may wear the Sunagakure headband, but you have no intention of being loyal to only us. You still take orders from Tsunade here, the leader of the village you claim rejected you, who you loathed and despised, the very same village you ran away from. You kept me in the dark, Don. You did horrible things, despite with good intention, or so says Tsunade, but you still turned your back on your comrades. Don, you are worse than scum!" Gaara yelled at Don.

"Gaara, that's enough, he's turning purple." Tsunade said sternly.

"Keep out of this, I'm not done with him yet. If he suffocates to death than it will be atonement for his crimes." Gaara replied.

"I truly don't know who you are anymore Don, I don't know where your allegiances lie. You deception will cost you dearly." Gaara said tightening his grip on Don more.

Don could feel the bones in his body starting to want to break. "I...I'm sorry..." Don said weakly and surprisingly despite the tremendous lack of air.

"It's too late for apologies, Don. You betrayed your birthplace* and you home*." Gaara said.

"I...I understand. I d...don't fear my punishment." Don said with his final breath and blacked out.

Gaara relinquished his grip on Don and walked toward the door. He turned to Tsunade, "I will allow him to live, but he is not to return until he is truly ready to return to Sunagakure as a loyal sand shinobi. If he comes prematurely, I will finish what I started and kill him." he tossed Tsunade a Don's black glove with the Sunagakure hourglass on it. "Give it to him when he is ready."

Tsunade said nothing as Gaara walked out of her office and returned home. She placed Don on the couch that was in her office and did a physical checkup to make sure he wasn't damaged severely. Luckily he wasn't and would regain consciousness in a few hours. When she looked out the window, she noticed the clouds had turned dark and gray and now it was raining.

A few hours later Don regained consciousness. "I'm still alive?" he asked.

"Yes, you are. Consider yourself lucky because I know he would have killed you if it weren't for the debt he owed you." Tsunade replied.

"What are you talking about?" Don asked.

"Oh, something about an Academy trainee saving his village while he was away..." Tsunade said.

Don got up and walked for the door.

"There is another thing you should know." she said.

"What is it?" Don asked.

"Gaara said you can't return to Sunagakure. Not until you are ready. If you come prematurely, he will kill you." she replied.

"I am ready." Don said.

Tsunade stood up from her chair, "Did you completely miss what Gaara has said hours ago? He doesn't trust you anymore! He doesn't think you are loyal to him or his country! He doesn't recognize you as a sand shinobi anymore, how do you think that by following a few steps behind him is going to make him think that you are ready?"

Don stood silent and looked down sadly.

"For your protection an d safety, you are to remain here Don and pick up where you left off as a leaf shinobi." Tsunade said sternly.

"What? I'm a sand shinobi, you can't do that!" Don exclaimed.

"Don't be stupid Don! You clearly aren't the ninja you thought yourself to be, you can't even listen. You don't belong to Sunagakure anymore. To them, you are a traitor who should be killed! You no longer represent any village, I'm giving you a chance to have a home again and become a greater ninja, greater than the one you are now. Maybe in time you will find your way back to Sunagakure, but for now, you will only be choosing your death if you return now." Tsunade replied angrily.

"I'll think about it." Don said walking out of her office.

Tsunade turned and stared out the window sadly. Don had just lost the place he called home and it was all her fault, she knew he would willingly accept those risky missions even with the price he'd have to pay. She hoped that by offering him back his life as a leaf shinobi, it would at least give him a new start, a way to start over and hopefully help him find his way back to Sunagakure. With this she saw it was the least she could do to make it up to Don for the consequences he now had to live with.

Don walked slowly in the pouring rain, the late evening was going to retire into night in just a couple of hours. In the distance he heard shouting and a girl screaming. He looked up and saw a mob with sticks and wooden swords surrounding a girl who was screaming in pain as they were throwing rocks at her.

"Help me! Someone please!" the girl screamed.

"No one will help you whore. You're the lover of that traitor Don. No one in this village will help you." one of the mobsters said.

When Don heard this he sprang into action. When another stone was thrown at her, Don appeared from nowhere with his wooden sword drawn and blocked the stone. Then three clones of Don made a defensive perimeter around Sachiko, they glared at the mob.

"If you try to hurt her one more time, I swear I won't hesitate to kill each and every one of you." Don said.

The strong aura that followed these words made the mod back off and scatter. Don then turned to Sachiko who bad badly bruised and bleeding. Sachiko fell to the ground too weak and hurt to walk.

"Don..." Sachiko said happily but in a weak tone.

"It's ok, you are safe now. I think it would be best if you stayed with me for now on." Don replied as he carried her off to his house in the southern part of the village.

When they arrived at his house, he treated her wounds and got her a dry towel and a robe to change into then started a fire to keep her warm so she wouldn't catch a cold.

Don dried himself and changed into a robe then sat next to Sachiko.

"So what were you doing out in the rain, Sachiko?" Don asked.

"I was heading home from doing a little shopping and got ambushed by that mob." she replied sadly.

"Oh." Don replied. He let out a big sigh.

"What's wrong?" Sachiko asked.

"Gaara came to meet me today. I'm no longer a sand shinobi and I'm not to return until I'm truly ready to go back. If I go back before I'm ready, then I will be killed for treason. Tsunade also offered to reinstate me as a leaf shinobi again right before I left her office..." he paused still unsure about his plans. This thing was, he had no plans, he had no ideas. For once in a long time, he was stranded with no options, only to deal with what he had.

"That would be good if you took the offer, then you could see me everyday!" Sachiko said happily.

Don turned to her and screamed "Don't you get it! I don't belong here! I no longer have a home anymore! I have nothing now!" but then stopped when he saw Sachiko flinching as if she was expecting to be hit. Some tears fell down her face.

"I'm sorry..." she said sobbed.

Don wrapped his arms around her, "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't yelled at you."

Sachiko wrapped her arms around him and hugged tight.

"It's late, you should get some rest." Don said.

Sachiko looked up at him, "What about you?" she asked.

"I've got a lot of thinking to do, take the master bedroom and I will see you in the morning." Don replied kissing her goodnight.

Sachiko got up and headed down the hall to the master bedroom and soon fell asleep. Don sat by the fire and thought about what he would do next. He no longer had the privilege of making a plan using whatever he wanted as building blocks. Now he was back where he started with no hope of leaving. He sighed, getting up from his seat and went to bed.

*birthplace- Konahagakure

*home- Sunagakure


	24. Ch 24 In Father's Footsteps

Ch. 24 In Father's Footsteps

Don walked into Tsunade's office early the next morning. The half asleep Hokage looked up from her paperwork she was trying to force herself to look over as Don walked in.

Don clinched his fists and glared at her, "I'll do it." he said sounding serious but also reluctant.

Tsunade smirked at him taking out a leaf headband from one of her desk drawers and tossing it to him, "Welcome back." she said.

"Yea, yeah. Whatever." Don said as he took the metal piece off and placed it on the glove he wore on his left hand.

"Always have to do things your way?" Tsunade asked as she watched him make the transfer of where he would wear the leaf village insignia.

"Yes. I do." he replied. "It's the least that can be done since I'm stranded here for God knows how long."

"Just be thankful you even have this place to fall back on." Tsunade said back sternly.

"Whatever." Don sighted discontented, "So what now?"

"I'm glad you asked. I know in the sand village ,you were all high and mighty about being a chunin however, when you became a chunin, you became a chunin for Sunagakure. You will have to resume the rank you were when you left here, so you are a genin. I'm also revoking your ANBU status as well. You will have to start from the bottom and climb your way up through the ranks." Tsunade said in a boastful tone.

Don's vein swelled on his forehead with anger, "What! I have to start over? This is stupid!" he yelled.

"Oh come on, it shouldn't be that hard becoming a chunin a second time, after all, you made it look so easy when you took it as a sand ninja." Tsunade giggled.

"You make it sound like what I did was easy. My team and I barely made it." Don barked back.

"We shall see. You have six months, in the mean time, since you are just another special case genin, I will give you a sensei who were train you personally." she said.

"Wait, special case genin? What the hell are you talking about?" Don asked angrily.

"You aren't the only person in this village who is old and is still a genin." he replied.

"Old? Who are you calling old!" Don shouted back as he realized who she was talking about.

"Anyway, I figured you would accept me offer so I took the initiative of selecting your jonin superior." Tsunade said.

"Who is it?" Don asked.

"Me." Neji said as he walked into the room glaring at Don with Don glaring back.

"What are you looking at? I don't like this any more than you do. I had no choice." Neji said disgusted.

"Welcome to my world." Don replied.

"Shut up!" Neji barked back.

"Don't tell me to shut up!" Don replied.

"I'm your superior, you will do as I say and show me respect! You obviously forget that I can kill you without having to use my full strength." Neji replied.

"I'd like to see you try..." Don said and immediately hit the floor when Neji thrust his palm into Don's chest causing him to cough up blood and gasp for air.

"Want more? Keep it up and I make sure the next bust of chakra splits that worthless brain of yours in half." he said glaring.

"Enough!" Tsunade with an earth-shattering roar, "Neji, you are taking Don as your genin pupil so deal with it. Don, Neji is your jonin superior and you will do whatever he says so deal with it. You will are stuck together until I say so, so deal with it! Now go!" she said pointing at the door.

Don and Neji walked out the door pushing and shoving each other the whole way.

"I can't believe I'm stuck with you. Of all people, a traitor. Not even worthy of the name scum." Neji grunted.

"I can't believe she had the nerve to make me train under someone and not even letting me have my own team." Don complained.

"You are such a selfish shinobi, you know that? You are stupid and selfish. If anything good came of you becoming a leaf ninja again is that you are at the rank that you rightfully deserve." Neji said.

"Hey, I'm at the chunin level! I've already proven that I am chunin material." Don said.

"You barely scrapped by last time, not to mention you got lucky with your opponents. If you faced real chunin material ninja, then you would have been eliminated in the first round of the exams." Neji replied.

"So you are really going through with your orders and training me?" Don asked.

"Yes, I will, because unlike you, I have a sense of duty." Neji said.

"What's that supposed to mean. I followed out orders just like you are following orders right now." Don replied.

"That's what you think I meant, Don? You call yourself a shinobi and you don't even know the true meaning of duty. It's respect Don, respect! Respecting others through acts of loyalty, loyalty which you so willingly threw away for personal glory! It's disgusting! You are worse than scum, I don't care if you you think your intentions were good, betraying you loved ones even with good intentions is still an unforgivable act!" he scolded Don.

Don followed Neji to the Hyuga household where the two of them would train while Don was still under Neji's council.

Don and Neji stood on opposite sides of the atrium that was large enough for them to train.

Neji took he defensive stance, "Come, let's see what you can do." he beckoned Don with his hand.

Don smirked taking out his twin earth swords and charging at Neji prepared to strike him. Neji stepped to the side as Don swung at him and stuck out his leg tripping Don. When Don hit the ground, he felt Neji's index and middle fingers on his forehead, "Dead." he said calmly.

Don got up panting with anger.

"You know it's not smart to just run blindly at an opponent like that. Sometimes all it will take is for them to counter you and then kill you. When you attack, do it intelligently and make sure you have a plan. Make a diversion, trick your opponent! Don't just charge in like a fool, you are begging for an opponent to kill you!" Neji lectured.

"I know, I know!" Don shouted.

Neji punched Don as hard as he could, "No, you don't know! If you knew then I would have hit a clone or a replaced object or something! You clearly aren't the strategist that everyone thinks you to be." Neji said.

"I am a strategist! I can win any battle in any situation, even adapt, changing plans if necessary or going through with a back-up plan!" Don yelled back.

"Then prove it!" Neji said.

Don charged at Neji with his swords raised ready to strike.

"The same tactic will only result in the same result." Neji said as he stepped to the side.

Don stepped in a circular path performing a rotation of his own to change his position, he swung his swords around. Neji jumped back nearly avoiding Don's attack. Don instantly made hand signs and Neji was trapped in a wooden cage barely able to move.

Don walked up to him and pointing the tip of his sword to Neji's face, "You were saying?"

Neji smirked and with a burst of chakra, repelled Don, "I can still move my palms idiot." Neji said, then used his rotation technique to break free of his wooden prison.

Don pulled form the ground, two earth bombs and threw them at Neji; Neji dodged the first one as it blew up by him and the second one fell short and blew up in front of him. Don came shooting from the smoke and had his sword at Neji's neck.

"Not bad for a novice but not good enough." Neji said.

Don looked down noticing Neji had his palm on his chest, if he had actually sent out a burst of chakra into his heart, it would have killed him. The two of them broke away from each other.

"That's enough for today. I've gotten a suffice amount of information I need to know just how I need to train you. You can go home now." Neji said.

"Oh, gee, thank you oh gracious sensei." Don sarcastically said as he left.

Meanwhile, Hinata had been watching the whole time from a distance, she stared at Don as he walked off and then returned to her room.


	25. Ch 25 Blinded

Ch. 25 Blinded

Don was up and out of bed for sunrise as usual. He went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast for himself and a little extra for Sachiko for when she woke up, she'd have food.

"What are you doing Don?" Sachiko said sleepily wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her night gown which was about to completely come off.

Don turned around shocked to see Sachiko awake this early in the morning. "What are you doing up this early?" he asked.

"I asked you first." she said sleepily walking up to him and hugging him. She buried her face into his chest, "But if you must know, I am always attracted by the smell of your cooking." she giggled.

Don looked down, Sachiko looked up at him and they kissed each other and then Don fixed her gown before her breasts were exposed.

"Let's have some breakfast before I have to leave for training." Don said softly leading Sachiko to the table and sitting her down. He placed their food on the table and sat next to her and ate.

"Yummy! Good as always!" Sachiko said happily.

"Good to hear." Don replied smiling at her.

When they were done eating, Don took the dishes and cleaned them. He got dressed and then left to go train.

"Good morning Don." Neji said.

"Good morning." Don replied.

"I hope you rested well because your training will get much harder from now on." Neji said smirking.

Don sighed "How pleasant." he was then handed a blindfold. "What is this?"

"Put it on." Neji demanded.

Don put it on, "I can't see a thing." he said.

"Exactly. Now we spar." Neji said.

"Wait, what? This isn't fair!" Don replied as Neji jabbed him hard in the stomach.

"First of all, you will always run the risk of being at a disadvantage in a fight. It is up to you to adapt and turn the tide of battle in your favor. And secondly, your arrogance blinds you even on the battlefield. If you open up your mind and other senses rather than relying on your eyesight, you will notice many things you normally wouldn't before." he replied sternly.

Don grunted but went through with the training anyway. After many blows taken, Don finally managed to open up his senses some being able to sense Neji's movements. There were a few instances where he was able to dodge some of his attacks.

"Good. You are getting the hang of it, however you won't be able to move on with your training unless you dodge all of my attacks." Neji said picking up the pace of his attack.

Don took two jabs to the stomach and jumped back sensing Neji's follow up attack. Hours went by and Don made little progress.

"That's enough for today." Neji said. Don reached for the blindfold. "Keep it on. You still need work on being aware of your surroundings."

"Great, how am I supposed to get home." Don complained.

"Just use your other senses to get home." Neji replied.

Don took a deep breath and tried to sense things around him that would give him clues as to which way to go. He managed to leave the Hyuga household after bumping into many things. After that, he attempted to find his way home and after a while he found himself lost.

"Great, I'm lost and I can't take my blindfold off." he said angrily. He sat on the ground and took a deep breath concentrating as hard as he could and spreading out his senses listening out for people's footsteps and feeling them walk by. After a while, he got up and followed a route which his sensed told him to take.

"Don? Where have you been?" Sachiko said as she ran off the porch and hugged him.

Don hugged back, "I'm sorry I'm so late. "I couldn't find my way home."

Sachiko reached up to grab the blindfold to rip it off and Don stopped her sensing what she was about to do.

"Don't. It's apart of my training, I have to keep it on." he said. "Let's go inside, I'm pretty sure I have some leftovers in the fridge."

Sachiko wrapped around his arm and walked with him inside and after eating and taking a bath, they went to bed.


	26. Ch 26 Bushido

Ch. 26 Bushido

Neji sat in the atrium of his home meditating when Don walked up. "Nice of you to finally join us, Don." he said. It had taken Don some time to find his way to the Hyuga household while still blindfolded.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late. I thought I had left early enough, but I see I was wrong." he replied.

"Very well, let's resume your training. Today, you are in for a special treat." Neji said.

"Am I fighting someone new today? I sensed someone else as I stepped into the atrium." Don asked.

"Very good Don. Yes, you will be fighting someone else today. My friend Nikushima here is going to fight you. He lacks abilities to use ninjutsu or genjutsu however he taijutsu is pretty fierce and his swordsmanship is the deadliest in all the village, probably the world." Neji replied.

Don pullout his earth sword and took a stance. "Ready when you are." he said.

Almost immediately he sensed Nikushima moving toward him. He was faster than he had anticipated. Don raised his sword to block an incoming blow however Nikushima faked his initial strike, moving past Don and striking him from behind. When Don turn around after being his from behind, he felt another blow hitting him from the back again.

"Gah! Damn it!" Don shouted.

"Don't lose your focus. Just remember your training." Neji said.

Don took a deep breath allowing his other senses to take control. As Don did that, Nikushima sheathed his sword.

"Let's see if you can block my quick draw. No one has been able to counter it." he said placing his hand on the sword's hilt and leaning forward ready to charge.

Don took his usual stance which was that of the hidden lotus. Having let all of his other senses take control, Don could tell where Nikushima was and could feel what he was doing. He was now ready for his counterattack.

Nikushima disappeared and a split second later was skidding across the ground. He got up from the ground and wiped the dirt from his face. "I'd be impressed if I didn't believe in beginner's luck." Nikushima said. "I can tell you still need a lot of work."

"But you can't deny that Don does have a lot of potential, after all, he was the first person to counter your quick draw. If he had no such potential, then he wouldn't have had a chance." Neji said.

Nikushima grunted, "I guess." he replied.

After a few months of nonstop intense training with Nikushima, Don's swordsmanship was improved significantly.

"Well, now you can truthfully say you know how to use a sword." Nikushima told Don.

Don bowed, "Thank you."

Nikushima leaned over and whispered in Neji's ear, "How much longer does Don have to wear that blindfold?"

"Until he feels he is ready." Neji replied.

"How can you say that? He's learned to not rely on his eyesight, how can you think he's not ready?" Nikushima asked.

"Learning not to trust everything you see was only part of Don being blindfolded." Neji sternly replied.

"So, how long until the exams?" Don asked.

"Less than four months." Neji replied.

"Wow, that soon? Where's it going to be?" Don asked.

"We won't know until a month or so before so don't worry about it." Neji replied. "Also, you can have the rest of the day off to rest. You've earned it."

Don hurried home with his heart racing thinking about the chunin exams. Sure, he hated having to go through the process again after having proven himself once but he felt so much stronger since the last time. It was another chance to show how powerful he was and how much of an asset he was. Maybe, if he did good enough, Gaara would let him back into the village. Thinking back to the past when he was representing Suna in the chunin exams, his heart slowed and began to ache.

Without realizing it, Don had subconsciously walked to his favorite tree in the village. "I might as well rest here." he said, "If Sachiko needs me, she will know where to find me."

He sat up against the tree and listened to the hustle and bustle of the village that once lulled him to sleep. He thought back to the events that followed shortly after he left Konahagakure two years ago. Then a familiar voice called out to him.

"Hey there stranger."


	27. Ch 27 Crossroads

Ch. 27 Crossroads

"Hey there stranger." an all too familiar voice said. A young blond sand shinobi with a fan strapped to her back approached Don.

"Come to confess your hatred for me?" Don asked.

"No I'm here on official business as usual and thought I would swing by this spot to see if you were around to say hi. It looks like my assumptions were right that I would find you here." she replied.

"I'm a bit shocked." Don said, "I have more fingers on one hand than I do people who still acknowledge my existence."

"There's nothing I can do about that Don. You did some pretty horrible things and hurt a lot of people. Now you just have to wait and see if you will be granted forgiveness." she replied.

"Yeah..." Don sighed looking up at her.

"By the way, what's the blindfold for?" Temari asked.

"It's for training." Don said.

"Oh... Well in other news, me and Shikamaru are dating now." Temari said bluntly.

"Is that supposed to taking a shot at me saying I wasn't good enough for you?" Don asked.

"Don't be such an ass." she barked back, "I don't regret the time we had with each other, but look at what has happened during the past couple of years. It was time to move on and stop wishing I could turn back the clock to when we were together."

Don couldn't say anything more, all he could do was fold his arms with dissatisfaction.

"Besides, word has it that you have a new girl. An old teammate of yours and she's living with you. Is that supposed to be a shot at me saying I wasn't good enough for you?" she said.

"No..." he mumbled.

"Then what was your reason for shacking up with that girl?" Temari said in a demanding tone.

"Because I knew after everything I had done, you deserved better. I knew people would give you trouble for being with me. I knew it was time to give you up and let you move on." he replied.

Temari swung her fan hard and smacked Don on the back of the head, "You are so pathetic at times, you think I would have cared what other people would to to do to me? I would have just kicked their ass! I'm insulted that you would give up on me so easily which proves my point more. Though, that also makes me wonder if you will give up your current lover when things get rough and people shun her for being with you. If so, you might as well tell her to find another man." Temari said.

"Is this really why you came to see me? To lecture me and kick me in the face?" he snapped.

"No, I'm just trying to give an old friend some advice before he does some real damage to someone's life because he doesn't know how to stand his ground on anything. I'm doing it for the friend who, at one time, I would have given my whole life to." she snapped back.

Temari began to walk off when Don said, "Things will never be the same will they?"

She stopped and turned her head towards him, "No, they won't." she replied walking off without saying another word.


	28. Ch 28 Destiny

Ch. 28 Destiny

"Psst, hey Don." Bernatello said nudging Don's arm.

"Go away you stupid bear, can't you see I'm sleeping along with my girlfriend here?" he groaned sleepily.

"I don't care about your petty love life. Get out of bed you lazy ass!" the bear replied.

"Why?" Don mumbled.

"The Ursa Major wants to see you immediately concerning something important." Bernatello replied.

"I have to get out of bed for some old fart?" Don said.

Bernatello then bit his had really hard in retaliation for the rude remark.

"Ouch! Damn it, ok! I'm going!" he shouted.

Don got out of bed kissing Sachiko on he cheek and tucked her into keep her warm with his temporary absence. He got dressed and waited for Bernatello to say something.

"Let's go." Bernatello said walking out of the house and leading Don to his tree.

When then two got there, Don placed his hand on the tree and they disappeared.

"You will need to remove you blindfold for this." Bernatello said.

Don nodded taking off the blindfold. He winced as the light hit his eyes which had been in darkness for so long. He looked around at the large forest surround him him which had wooden houses of all different sizes.

"I take it humans don't come here too often?" don asked.

"No, so I'd keep quiet and follow me to the Ursa Major." Bernatello replied.

Following the main road, Don could see and imperial palace in the distance. After a while, they passed through the gates and entered the throne room where the Ursa Major was located. The Ursa Major was a large grizzly bear in his prime and had a fierce aura about him.

"Welcome young one." he said.

Don bowed, "Hello."

"Silence! I Did not permit you to speak!" he roared. There was a silence for a few moments and Don's face went pale. The Ursa Major then burst out with laughter, "Ha ha! I was just kidding."

Don chuckled with amusement to lighten the mood.

"You're Don, right?" he was asked.

"Yes..." Don replied.

"Heed my words child. You have brought about the destruction of your world and ours." the Ursa Major said.

"What?" Don exclaimed, "What the hell did I do?"

"As I understand, you visited some temples recently?" the Ursa Major asked.

Don paused, "Yeah, so?"

"You've awoken the sleeping giants and now time is limited. However, don't fret, you have had the weapon to defeating this threat all along. In time would will find the way to unlock this power. You now have the lives of everyone in this world in your hands. Because we don't know when things will get bad, we have decided to start getting you prepared." he Ursa Major replied.

"How am I supposed to get prepared...?" Don asked.

"Silence! I was getting to that." The Ursa Major roared in anger.

Don jumped to attention. The bears surrounding him looked very serious as if a final judgment were about to be issued.

"We would normally never do this but given the circumstances, we are going to allow it..." the Ursa Major said.

"Allow what?" Don asked.

"We are allowing you to become a sage. The last person to be granted this status was your father." he replied.

"What do I have to do to learn it?" Don asked.

"Sages gain their abilities differently. It's not like Naruto, where you have to go through intensive training. To become a sage for us, the new sage and Ursa Major must fuse spirits. Then, you will be taught to tap into that energy." The Ursa Major replied.

Don said nothing not feeling he wasn't deserving of such power.

Sensing this, the Ursa Major shouted, "Suck it up. Take pride in this honor and be thankful. You are gaining the incredible power of a full grown bear in his prime."

Don took a deep breath and sighed. "Fine."

The Ursa Major began to glow blue as his spirit energy engulfed his body. In the blink of an eye, it shot towards Don knocking him back. Don blacked out upon impact and when he woke up, he found himself underneath his tree.


	29. Ch 29 The Real Chunin Exams

Ch. 29 The Real Chunin Exams

"Hey Neji." Guy said as he walking into the training grounds that Don and Neji were practicing in.

"Sensei, to what do I owe this unexpected visit?" he replied.

"Can't a sensei visit his old student?" asked chuckling. "But while I'm here, may I borrow Don for a moment?"

Neji nodded, "Make it quick."

Don walked over to Guy who faced him with a serious face. "I've been thinking about what you asked me a few days ago, and I will make you a deal. Pass the chunin exams and I will teach you that technique. I will let you know that I wouldn't just teach this to anyone, but I think you are a good kid. Despite what most of this village thinks of you, I still think you would never intentionally hurt this village. As a mentor, it is my job to pass strengths on to my students so they can continue to protect their home and everyone in it. You will be no exception, however given the circumstances, I will not just so easily give you such a great power. You must earn the right to wield it."

Don nodded and walked back to continue his training.

"I got some news for you Don." Neji said as Don walked up to him.

"Is it good or bad news?" Don asked.

"It depends on how you take it. I found out where the chunin exams will be held this year." Neji replied.

"And..." Don said.

"They're going to be hosted in Suna. It seems Gaara has built a new stadium there and has strongly requested he hosts the exams this year." Neji said.

Don froze and felt his breath leave him. His body almost went numb and a surge of anxiety rushed through him. His body began to tremble with excitement. "...Is that so? Taking it to home turf? I can't wait." he said slamming his fist into his other hand.

"Nice to see you aren't taking it bad seeing as that's a second village that hates you. Just don't expect any welcome home cheers and them to throw graffiti." Neji said.

"Don't worry, I don't. I'm expecting them to throw knives." Don chuckled softly.

Months went by and it was finally time. Don stood alone in his room with his gear packed. He zipped up is final bag and and began to think deeply. It had been so long since he last was in Suna. It felt like an eternity. His heart began to race and he began to feel nervous. Now was time for him to prove himself and show that he did deserve to be a sand shinobi.

"Baby?" Sachiko said as she walked into the room and wrapped her arms gently around Don's neck.

"Yes Sachiko?" Don replied.

"I just wanted to wish you luck. I know you will do well. I just... I know it must seem like it's been forever since you were last in Suna. Just try and take it easy. Remember why you are there, ok?" he said softly with concern giving him a soft kiss on the cheek.

Don slid his glove on which bored the leaf of Konohagakure. He turned to face Sachiko and kissed her deeply. "I hope to see you in those stands cheering for me." he said.

"You can count on it." Sachiko replied happily.

Don smirked and walked out the house to the village gates where Neji was waiting for him.

"This is it. Are you ready for your test?" Neji asked.

"Yes." Don replied.

The two walked out the gates of the village and towards the sand village.

The sun beat down relentlessly on Don and Neji. The gates of the village were straight ahead and a nostalgic feeling consumed Don. Sweat dripped from his pores, it felt good. It had been a long time since he had been under this sun and in this heat.

"I forgot how hot it was here." Don said, "But it feels good."

"I can see, you're sweating bullets." Neji replied.

"I'm not. It's my body's way of crying. It's crying because it's been a long time since it felt the warmth of the sun. The sun of this village. It's crying because I'm finally home." Don replied.

"Don't get carried away, keep in mind of who you are representing in these exams. Remember who you fight for. Remember who's symbol you bear on your left hand." Neji replied.

"I know, I won't forget." Don said, "This is just the beginning."

When they entered through the gates, the people in the streets stopped and stared in shock at their visitor. Some murmured amongst themselves mentioning his name, others glared at him knowing he had been branded as a traitor to the village. Don ignored them knowing he wasn't going to be getting any pleasant greetings from the village he once lived in.

Their walk to the registration seemed like forever as Don took notice that every face on every street turned and glared at him. Once registered, Don led Neji to their apartment.

"How did you manage to get this?" Neji asked.

"I called in a favor from an old friend. She hooked us up with this place ahead of time. I didn't want us to be left with a bottom of the barrel hotel room." Don replied.

"This friend, it wouldn't happen to have been Temari would it?" Neji asked with curiosity.

"Maybe..." Don said turning slightly red.

"Well, the exam will start at the end of the week, so just take this time to relax. I don't need you exhausting yourself before you get a chance to show how far you've come." Neji replied.

Don nodded smiling, "Good. I'm going out for a walk."

"Stay out of trouble and don't get yourself killed." Neji said sighing and then plopping on the couch of their room.

Don left the room and immediately went to a spot which he had missed dearly. He climbed to the top of the village gates and stretched out under the sun and relaxed as the soft sand held him in an embrace.

"It's been far too long..." He mumbled to himself as he drifted off to sleep.

The day went on and Don wound up sleeping until the next day. The desert sun rose above the horizon, wiping light across the golden sand and causing the shadows to disappear. When the sunlight hit Don's eyes, he woke up and yawned.

"Man, that was a good nap... oh.." he said to himself realizing it was morning of the next day. He smiled as he watched the morning sun slowly begin to rise into the sky.

"I thought I'd find you here. It looks like old habits die hard." an older man's voice said. Don looked over his shoulder to see a sand jonin towering over him. He had a white cloth wrapped around his head and part of it was covering half his face.

"Baki-sensei. What are you doing here?" Don said standing up immediately.

"I heard you were here and wanted to greet my old student. I can tell you've grown quite a bit since I was your mentor." he replied.

"Are you angry with me?" Don said nervously.

"For what?" Baki replied.

"Everything, all the reasons why Suna and Konoha hate me." Don said.

Baki folded his arms, "At first I was. I was ready to come to Konoha myself and kill you out of anger for what you had done. However, shortly after you were pardoned by Tsunade, I was called in to have a meeting with her. She explained everything to me and begged that I would understand. It took a long time to sink in, but I came to terms with myself and realized that you would never willingly harm this village." he placed his hand on Don's shoulder, "I can see it in your eyes that you want more than anything to be a sand shinobi again. I look forward to that day when you can walk through those gates as a sand shinobi again."

Don smiled softly at him, he was sad that things were how they were but he was going to fight for what he wanted. He was going to fight to become a sand shinobi again.

"I've got to get back to the Academy. My break is almost done and then I have to teach my last class of the day. One you are all too familiar with." he said smirking.

Don smirked as well getting the reference to his strategy class he took with Baki-sensei when he first became a sand shinobi.

After Baki left, Don began to walk through the village trying to keep as cool as possible. All of a sudden he was tackled from behind. Don turned around to face the person who tackled him.

A girl with slightly dark turquoise hair wearing a gypsy-like outfit hugged him tight. "It really is you!" the girl said.

Don's eyes widened, "Rain!" Don replied happily hugging her tight.

"I heard that you were in town. What are you doing here?" she asked.

He raised his glove to show her the leaf on it, "I'm taking the chunin exams. That's the only thing that is keeping me from getting killed." he said.

"Oh..." she said looking sadly.

They both stood up and then he felt someone punch him in the back of the head, "What's up buddy?" Gazu said as he walked up from behind Don.

Don punched him back, "Nothing much, how about you?" he replied.

Gazu swung back, "I'm here looking for an old friend of mine. I head he was in town to take the chunin exams and wanted to see how he was doing."

Don punched him back, "Well, that's nice of you. I would never expect an asshole like you to do something so kind for someone."

"What did you say you asshole?" Gazu shouted angrily as he threw a strong punch at Don's face making a clean hit.

The two kept hitting each other fighting back and forth and insulting each other as they went getting more and more ferocious with their punches.

"Ok, enough is enough boys." Rain said as she got between Don and Gazu.

The two shook hands and hugged and then the trio began to walk around. Don's stomach growled.

"Eh... wow, I just realized. I haven't eaten since yesterday." Don said.

"Perfect! We can all go eat together." Rain said happily.


	30. Ch 30 Sands of Time

Ch. 30 Sands of Time

The old squad seven found a restaurant to eat at, finding their tables and ordering their food. The atmosphere was a hostile due to everyone glaring at Don but the atmosphere at the table was pleasant because Don's two closest friends were there with him.

"So, how have things been?" Rain asked as she stirred her straw gently in her drink.

"Overall, they are ok. I'm still getting used to living in Konoha, again..." he said.

"We miss you, a lot." she said softly looking at him and smiling softly.

"I miss you guys as well. I would give anything to be with you guys again." Don replied.

"I have faith in you Don." Gazu said. "It will take some time for people here to forgive you. They know the truth, but it hasn't quite sunken in yet."

"When I took that mission, I didn't expect people to forgive me. Even if it was all an act, it was still necessary for what I was doing. Funny, it's just a blur to me now." Don said sighing sadly.

Rain and Gazu looked down in sadness and didn't say anything. There was a pause for a moment.

"Well, we aren't here to mope around the past. We are here to eat and have a good time, besides, there are more important matters to discuss." Rain said.

"And what would that be?" Don asked.

She smirked at him, "Heh, you have to take the chunin exams again."

Gazu chuckled too, "Yeah, that is pretty lame. You got demoted all the way back to a genin. How much of a loser can you be to get demoted."

"Hey!" Don shouted in embarrassment right as their food was brought to them.

"I got some news for you Don." Gazu said.

Don looked up, "Hmm?"

"I'm going to be taking the jonin exams soon. I've been training really hard and I'm pretty sure I can make it." he replied.

"That's awesome. I wish you the best of luck. I'm sure you can do it!" Don said happily.

The trio walked down the street with Don in the lead with Rain and Gazu at his side. In the distance, Don saw some people who he really didn't want to run into but there was no escape. He froze and watched as Gaara, Temari and Kankuro walked up to Don and his old squad mates. Gaara and his other siblings looked like they were about to stop to talk but Gaara sent them a vibe to keep walking. Without a word being spoken, Gaara walked past Don. Their eyes met and each exchanged silent messages. Don received Gaara's message loud and clear: there was nothing more he had to say to him.

Don looked straightforward, "Come on guys." he said in a serious tone. Rain and Gazu sensed the pressure that had been brought by their encounter with Gaara.

A few minutes later Don said "I will see you guys around later. I need to go somewhere." he said softly raising his hand goodbye without facing them and disappearing into the crowds of people.

Don strolled silently through the streets until his saw the new stadium in sight. As he got closer, it began to look less like a stadium and more like a Colosseum. Eventually he stood at the foot of the Colosseum and looked up at the towering building.

He walked through the entrance and out into the arena where the fights would take place. He stood alone in the middle of the arena and began to think to himself about various things.

"So this is where it's all going to take place? The site of my true testament as not only a ninja but as a person." Don said kneeling down and rubbing his hands together with a handful of sand in between them.

"What are you doing all the way out here and by yourself?" a male voice called out to him. Don turned around to see Rain and Gazu walking toward him.

"What are you guys doing here?" Don asked.

"We were worried about you so we followed you. Come on, talk." Rain said.

"I'm just a little nervous is all." Don replied.

"About what? You're a strong ninja who has a good sense of logic and strategy. You're going to mop the floor with everyone." Gazu said.

"Yeah, you're right and I am fighting on home turf which gives me a huge advantage over everyone else." Don chuckled.

"Don't get so cocky Don." Temari said as she came hovering down on her fan.

"What the hell, who invited you?" Don said.

"I invited myself, what are you going to do about it?" she cooed poking his shoulder.

Don grunted with anger wanting to give her a nice "friendly" punch in the face for her cocky attitude.

"I should warn you, the sand ninja this year aren't going to be any pushovers. Since you left, we've intensified the training our genin undergo so each and every genin entering the exams this year is definitely chunin material. I even trained someone myself. They say he's going to be our village's pride and joy fighter, he's going to conquer the exams easily." Temari said.

"Well, isn't that special Temari. Whoever he is, he will have to go through me because I'm going to become a chunin without a doubt." Don replied.

She laughed, "You have no idea how hard it's going to be for you to get promoted. Not only are you going to have to fight and beat every examiner, but you will have to win over the judges and the crowd. You are still a criminal in everyone's eyes. Win the judges and the crowd, and you win your promotion."

"Count on it." Don said in the most serious tone they had ever heard come from him.

Later that night, Don lay restlessly in his bed staring at the ceiling. He took a deep breath and sighed, then getting out of bed and climbing to the roof of his living quarters. He looked out at the night sky and dreamed back to the days when he and Temari would lay out under the stars and fall asleep together.

"What a beautiful night..." he said to himself softly closing his eyes.

He felt a warm presence gently lay their head on his chest. "Yeah. You don't see as many stars in Konoha as you do out here." a female voice said as she cuddled to him.

Don opened his eyes and looked down at the girl, "Hey Sachiko."

"I finally found you." she said hugging him happily.

"I miss this. I miss laying out on the rooftop at night staring at the stars overhead until I fell asleep and be woken up by the early morning sun." Don said softly.

"Maybe..." Sachiko began.

"Maybe what?" Don asked.

"Maybe when you become a sand shinobi again and move back here, I can move with you? Then the both of us can lay on the roof every night and look up at the stars and fall asleep together." she said.

He held her close and kissed her cheek, "That sounds perfect." Don replied and Sachiko smiled at him then cuddling close to his chest. Eventually, they fell asleep on the roof and woke to the early morning sun.


	31. Ch 31 Sand Gladiator

Ch. 31 Sand Gladiator

The sky was clear and blue, the sun was as hot as ever. This was the first day of the chunin exams in village of Sunagakure. Don stood in the middle of the stadium along with the other genin who hoped to pass the exams. Even though nothing could be heard from the roar of the crowd, Don heard nothing, it was all dead silence as he could fell that everyone in the stands was fixated on him, the traitor of two villages. He felt the pressure of being watch by those who wished him dead. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I can't worry about this." he thought to himself, "I've got to stay focused on my exam and things will be ok. I've trained hard for this and my goal is to pass giving it everything I have."

One of the proctors moved his hands, giving a signal to the crowd to calm down so he could make his announcement.

"Welcome everyone to this year's chunin exams. We will begin immediately by announcing how this exam will be taken. There will be no written parts of this exam, this will be strictly a fighting exam. Those of you genin who are here, you will be competing in gladiator like fights. Do anything you can to win but as always, try not to kill each other. If you feel you won't be able to handle this intensity, leave now."

There was a pause to see if anyone would leave, no one left.

"Very well, enter through the doors on the south side of the stadium and prepare for how the first fight will commence. All of you will be split into pairs, teaming up with another person chosen at random. When everyone has been paired up, you all will then be put into eight separate groups. The first group will then enter the arena and fight in a free for all, the last two man team left standing will earn a spot in the brackets. After the first group has finished their fight, the second group will fight and so one until we have enough people for a sixteen man bracket."

Don's mind began to explode with thoughts and his heart racing with excitement. This would be a fun challenge and a challenge he did not plan on failing. They were then dismissed and entered through the doors on the southern end of the stadium.

He was immediately yanked to the side and paired up with a young and tall looking guy with black hair and brown eyes. Not one of them said a word to each other and immediately they were yanked into a group of other pairs, then immediately pushed into the Colosseum.

"Well, let's get started." Don's partner said as the two of them stood in the middle of the arena.

Don smirked as they found themselves surrounded by opposing teams and nodded.

As the fighting went on, the other teams slowly realized that Don and his partner were the two favorites to win the tournament. If they were ganged up on, then there would be no way they could fight back. Don and his partner jumped to attention when all the other teams jumped at them attacking furiously. Don and his partner held their ground and countered with ease. Don's partner swept his hands into the air creating a huge gust picking everyone off the ground and when they reached their peak height, Don threw up his earth bombs and ignited them, setting off a huge explosion. Not one of the other teams got up.

"I wish they would have done that before." Don's partner said.

"It would have saved us a lot of time." Don added.

The two exited the stadium with the sound of cheering drowning out all other noise.

"Well that could have lasted longer." Tsunade grunted.

"It doesn't seem like Don has changed much at all. Still the same old mediocre ninja he has always been." Gaara said.

"Don't be too quick to judge just yet. Don's grown significantly stronger since he rejoined my village. Have patience." she replied.

Gaara just rolled his eyes and watched the other groups fight. Eventually, they had the people they needed for their bracket. When the last group fought, the few who were left had about a month to rest.

Later that night, Don sat on the roof of his apartment and stared at the sky. Sachiko was down below in their bedroom sleeping and hadn't noticed Don had left the bed to go sit on the roof. He whipped out his earth sword and began to swing at the air with it.

"Here to kill me?" Don asked sensing a familiar presence behind him.

A boy a little younger than Don stood at his back. He had red hair and strapped across his back was a giant gourd. "No."

"Then why else would you be bothering with me right now?" Don said without facing his guest.

"Something has been bothering me for a while about you. Ever since the first day that my sister and brother stumbled upon you half dead in the desert and you were adopted into this village. You're actions and attitude have been the most peculiar I've ever seen in a person. It's amazing you haven't been killed for desertion and treason." Gaara said.

"I guess it's just luck or maybe fate..." Don said.

"I wouldn't get caught up in that luck or fate crap. You should keep focused on the task at hand. You are here for one reason and one reason only and that's to become a chunin. If you think you will be able to win us over so easily be showing off during some child's exam, you might as well drop out now. It's been so obvious how you fought earlier today, the look of desperation in your eyes. It didn't take a shinobi to tell what you were thinking." Gaara replied.

"Then how the hell will I be able to return home?" Don said turning around and standing up and shouting at Gaara.

"Decide where you're true loyalties lie. I knew nothing about the secret missions Tsunade gave you. She didn't even get my permission and you foolishly went along with it. You need to start making choices in your life for once and stand by them! You hurt my family, I'm not just talking about Temari, I'm talking about the whole village! Make up your mind where you want to be and stay there!" Gaara said angrily.

Don fell silent. It was another hard pill to swallow, but he took it unable to argue. He had been naive and reality had once again been thrown into his face. He gripped his sword tighter and his face went serious. "So be it." he replied as Gaara disappeared.


	32. Ch 32 Decisive Battle

Ch. 32 Decisive Battle

A month had quickly passed and the heat in Suna only seemed the get worse. Don however was unaffected, he had gotten used to Suna's unforgiving heat again. Don sat on the gates of the village and watched to sun rise as he had once did when he lived there. He watched as the shadows were swept away by the new rays of sunlight.

"Don, you up there?" Sachiko called up to him.

Don broke from his trance and looked down over the wall at Sachiko who was waving down at him below.

"Come on down baby, it's time to go! You don't want to be late for your match do you?" she said.

Don smiled at her and jumped down from the gate to join her. She wrapped her arm around his and the couple walked towards the stadium. On the way, Don spotted someone familiar walking towards them. A woman, a little older than Don, with blonde hair, hazel eyes, wearing a black dress and a fan strapped across her back.

"Temari..." Don said softly overcome with shock and other anxiety.

Temari glanced up at Don, "...Don." she said a bit flustered herself. She looked at Sachiko and immediately he heart began to pound as if it were trying to break free from her chest.

"Who's she?" she asked in a slightly demanding tone.

Don jumped slightly, "This is Sachiko, she's an old friend of mine. I used to be in the same squad as her when I was little..."

There was an awkward silence between them, Sachiko was a bit confused and felt like something was being left unsaid. She had been away in another country for a long time. Long enough to not know Don was still alive. She had only found out when she had returned this past year and saw him when he passed through the Konahagakure area for a secret mission.

"I didn't know you knew Temari, Don." Sachiko said intrigued by the fact they seemed to know each other quite well.

"Yeah, we've known each other for a few years now. She took care of me when I became a sand ninja." He replied.

"You became a sand ninja?" Sachiko asked in awe.

"There's a lot I haven't told you Sachiko, but now isn't the best time to be going through my life's story." Don said in a serious tone.

"You mean to tell me, you are with this girl and yet she doesn't know a single thing about what's happened to you in the past three years, Don?" Temari said glaring at him.

Don's eyes widened in shock. He knew this comment would now lead to so much trouble.

"I said, it was a story for another time." Don said.

"Temari is right, I haven't seen or heard from you in years, I thought all this time you were dead!" Sachiko exclaimed.

Don remained silent having been backed into a corner by the two major women of his life.

"What have you been doing the past three years Don?" Sachiko said.

"Do we really have to discuss this now?" he asked.

"Yes!" Sachiko demanded.

Don sighed, "Three years ago, shortly after you had gone off to another country for your assignment, I had returned home beaten and bruised from my previous assignment. Something changed after that mission that scarred me on the inside. For some reason, everywhere I went, people treated me different, no one noticed me or even acknowledged my presence. I was so alone, even more since I was a kid. It was as though I had become a shadow in the village. One night, after getting in a fight with Naruto, I sneaked out of my hospital room and left the village. The only thing I left behind to prove I was gone, was my headband. Eventually, when crossing a huge desert, I collapsed from exhaustion, only to be picked up by Temari. I told her that I had no home to go back to and she pulled some strings for me to let me enlist in their academy. Since I had no place to stay, Temari let me live with her. Some other things happened afterward and eventually, I was exiled from the village and Tsunade took me back in."

"Some things?" Temari said angrily glaring at him. "You betrayed even us you bastard. You left without a trace and next thing I knew, I saw you attacking our village as if you were out of your mind. On top of that, you shattered my heart into a million pieces!"

"Don, what is she talking about?" Sachiko asked with her face turning slightly pale.

"I was sent on a mission to investigate some strange sightings of old Akatsuki members who we thought were dead. It as a double agent mission of the highest secrecy and it involved me taking it down from the inside. I was chosen due to my previous history as a rogue and because of that, my mission was successful however it had a high price to it. As for Temari and her personal affliction, when I moved here, we wound up having a close relationship and dated. My actions and lies, pushed her away and caused her a great deal of suffering which I could never hope to be forgiven for. She had no choice but to move on..." Don said looking down in shame.

After a few moments of silence, Don was sent skidding across the ground by a powerful punch to the face.

"You can go to hell you bastard!" Sachiko screamed angrily. Temari's eye's opened in shock to see what had happened. "For three years I thought you were dead, and you didn't even bother to let me know and all this time you had abandoned the village and been running around as a rogue and just after you found a new home, you go and betray that too? You sicken me, Don! You are worse than scum, you know that? I don't ever want to see your face again! And all this time, I thought it was _his_ fault! You can die in your next match for all I care!" and Sachiko stormed off with tears streaming down her face.

Don didn't get up, he stayed on the ground and covered his face in shame.

"Here, get up..." Temari said in a gentle tone extending her hand to him.

"I don't need your sympathy." Don said getting up and brushing the dirt off his clothes. He then turned around and walked to the arena the rest of the way on his own.

"Don versus Daimyo Taiyo!" The proctor shouted.

Everyone fell silent because this was the most anticipated fight of the chunin exams and awaited the two combatants to take their places in the arena.

Daimyo stood with his arms crossed and waited patiently for his opponent. "That traitor probably ran away." he said in a cocky voice.

"I'm here!" Don said as he walked through a cloud of dust that had been blown out of the tunnel he was in that led to the arena. He performed a few hand releases and pulled his two swords from the ground. He took his fighting stance, "Let's do this." he said glaring at Daimyo. His eyes were filled with desire and intensity. At the corner of his eye, he could see Sachiko in the stands; her magenta hair unmistakable.

Daimyo pulled out a large fan, which resembled Temari's a lot. "It's time you payed for what you did you no good piece of crap!"

"Bring it." Don said in reply.

The proctor wasn't able to signal the match to begin, Daimyo immediately swung his fan at Don sending blasts of air at him as well as pulses of sand. Don crossed his swords blocking the blasts as they hit him. With all the dust and sand that had been kicked up, Don had lost sight of Daimyo. Daimyo appeared behind Don and swung his fan with all his might at point blank range sending Don flying into the air and spiraling down in a vortex of wind and slamming into the ground.

"First blood is mine you piece of scum." Daimyo said.

Don was on the ground trying to catch his breath as the crowd roared in favor of Daimyo's attack. He slowly got up and and retook his fighting stance.

"Now that I've let you take first blood, it's time to play serious." Don said glaring at Daimyo.

"Let me? Ha, quit making excuses!" Daimyo shouted.

Don immediately disappeared before everyone's eyes and the crowed gasped in shock. Don then reappeared above Daimyo with his swords above his head and swung down with all his might at him. Daimyo dodged a critical blow however Don managed to nick his shoulder and it began to bleed a little.

"Damn it..." Daimyo cursed under his breath as he placed a hand over his wound.

"You think, I'm going to let you get away that easily?" Don shouted as he charged at Daimyo and swung his swords at him. Daimyo was barely able to block every hit and Don was able to scratch him a few times. "Time to pick up the pace a little!" Don shouted again realizing he wasn't going fast enough. With blinding fury, Don's attack speed dramatically increased and his swings became nearly invisible. Daimyo was slashed to bits and finally fell to the ground.

Daimyo's body blew up as a burst of air blasted Don back and onto the ground.

"Nice try! But you will have to do better than that to defeat me! I'm a god of the wind, just as my sensei is the goddess of the wind!" he shouted to Don hovering high above his head on his fan.

Don got up and retook his fighting stance, "Goddess of the wind eh? So you're Temari's brat. Heh, I thought something seemed way too familiar about you kid."

"You'll pay for breaking my sensei's heart!" he said diving down at Don with great velocity before disappearing.

Don kept his guard up scanning the arena for him. All of a sudden, Don was being stuck repeatedly on all sides, as if someone was flying by him at high speed and attacking him. The crowd roared as Don was helplessly being attacked and being thrown around and rebounded by each attack into another attack.

"I've got to find a way to get out of this, but how can I if I can't see him?" Don thought to himself as the barrage continued and he helplessly was flung around like a rag doll. "Wait... that's it." He closed his eyes and let all of his energy go to his other senses.

"Don's closed his eyes, and has that face of intense focus. I wonder if this was from his training with the blindfold?" Sachiko thought to herself as she watched Don nearly apathetically as he took his beating. The roar of the crowd kept going the duration of Don's beating.

Among the pitch darkness Don saw, he began to see Daimyo zooming past him and then feeling the blows that connected, however the image of Daimyo was blurry. After a few moments, Don saw Daimyo clearly and coming straight at him. He didn't hesitate knowing if he thought about it, his opportunity to counter would be lost. He twisted his body and swung his arms around with swords in hand on a collision course with Daimyo. Daimyo was thrown into shock and was too late to react and collided with Don's swords sending him crashing into the ground. The crowd silenced with shock and awe at what had just happened, especially since it was too quick for any of them to see what happened.

Don got up struggling a bit to regain his balance and trying to catch his breath. He watched Daimyo closely to see if he would get up. A few moments past and Daimyo finally got up.

"Time to kick it up a notch!" Daimyo shouted. "Let's see how you like this!" he said as he opened his fan all the way and swung with all of his might kicking up a huge twister as well as all the dust and sand in the arena. "Let's see how you do fighting in a sandstorm, this is my playing field now!" he shouted as he disappeared into the sandstorm.

Don shielded his eyes to prevent from being blinded. "Shit, I can't see a thing!"

Soon after, blades of air came shooting out of the sandstorm and shot towards Don. Don looked up in time to block the attacks. He grunted and realized he would be useless on the ground. The crowd began to cheer again thinking Don would finally meet his end. Don glared at the twister and jumped into it.

He rode around in the vortex of the twister and searched for Daimyo.

"Daring move, it's time we end this." Daimyo said boastfully.

"You're right. Let's end this." Don said appearing behind Daimyo. He no longer had his swords and his fists were clinched tight and ready to knock Daimyo into the ground. Don's fist connected with Daimyo's face and he sent him shooting into the ground and the sandstorm went on.

Daimyo stood up and smirked at Don, "Was that supposed to hurt?" he said laughing.

He snapped his fingers and a thousand kunai came shooting out of the sand twister which had been formed earlier. "Try and dodge this!" he shouted.

Don quickly pulled out an earth bomb and activated it with a quick hand release. The debris kicked up from the explosion cloaked him from anyone being able to tell whether he was hit or not by the kunai. When the debris cleared, a thousand kunai were stuck in the ground and a hole could be seen where Don had once been.

"Damn it!" Daimyo cursed.

Then an explosion went off underneath him and Don popped out from underground. Don looked down expecting to see Daimyo laying on the ground but found a rock was in his place.

"Shit." Don cursed under his breath and he looked around for Daimyo.

Daimyo zoomed past him on his fan and kicked sand into Don's eyes. Don flinched and began to try and rub the sand out of his eyes but it was no use. Daimyo seized this opportunity to relentlessly barrage Don with attacks. Now that Don was blind, we was a sitting duck.

Sachiko, along with the other spectators, sat and wondered what was happening. They could barely make out the fight below because the sandstorm in the arena was so intense. She could hear the people around her pointing out the figure which looked like Don getting beat up. After a while, when Don had been knocked up high and out of the sandstorm for everyone to see, the crowd went wild as Daimyo appeared right above him and slammed Don back to earth with his fan. Don lost consciousness as he fell back to earth and slammed into the ground.

A few moments past and Don regained slight consciousness, "I can't let it end like this." he thought to himself. He then stood up, "I won't let it end like this." he muttered to himself seriously. He performed a hand release and pulled out an earth fan. Focusing his other senses and building up his chakra, he then began to spin around quickly creating a twister himself, only with an opposite rotation as the one that Daimyo had created.

Daimyo shielded his eyes as the sand picked up around him, "What's going on?" he said in shock.

A burst of wind shot from Don as the two twisters canceled each other out and the arena was visible again. Don then turned to face Daimyo, despite being blind, he could still sense where he was. Don performed some hand release and slammed his hands on the ground and immediately, the arena was filled with dense forest.

"Let's see how you fair in my natural environment." Don said as green chakra began to engulf his body.

"The infamous green chakra. My sensei has told me much about it and what you are capable of doing. The battle is mine." Daimyo said.

After he finished his sentence, he heard a great disturbance among the trees. The trees came to life and began to attack him by swinging their limbs at him, while at the same time, Don charged at him with his earth swords in hand again and slashed at him, cutting his shoulders. Now Daimyo was the one being flung around like a rag doll as the trees battered him back in forth in various direction with Don zooming past him inflicting cuts upon him.

The crowd was thrown into shock to see how quickly the tide had been turned against Daimyo and how he was now helpless again Don's barrage.

"Hidden Lotus Blade Technique: Razor Leaf Hurricane!" Don shouted as he came spinning through the air and impacted with Daimyo inflicting a huge gash across his chest and sending him into the sand. The trees stopped moving and Don stood a few feet away from Daimyo waiting to see if he would get up again.

Both Don and Daimyo's bodies were severely cut and bruised from the beating they gave each other. Both had drained most of the their chakra and time was running out before none was left. Each had enough for one last attack.

The crowd watched anxiously for Daimyo to get up. Then they began to cheer for him and told him to get up and finish Don off. Don breathed heavily from exhaustion as he listened to the crowd.

Daimyo got up with his fan in both hands, "I'm going to destroy you!" he said swinging his fan furiously in all directions as he spun around quickly. A wind storm kicked up and sharp blades of air cut through Don's forest and also began to cut Don as they flew past him.

Don made a hand sign knowing this was his final attack and a huge explosion went off in the arena kicking up the sand and dust and shrouding the arena in a think cloud of dust.

The crowd fell silent and waited for the dust to clear. Minutes went by and the dust finally cleared and the crowd was shocked at what they saw. Daimyo was laying on the ground and Don was kneeling on the ground completely drained of energy.

There was a long pause of silence allowing everyone to take in what had just happened.

"It looks like you win." Daimyo said.

"You're wrong." Don said as he managed to gather enough strength to get up on his feet.

"Are you some kind of idiot, you won." Daimyo said.

Don glared at him, "I'm telling you, you're wrong!" he shouted at him, and his voice echoed through the arena.

Daimyo managed to get to his feet and looked at Don.

"Tch. Win or lose, I can't ever forgive a traitor like you. I'm amazed the Hokage even let a piece of scum like you back into her village, the very same one you deserted."

"You know nothing about me!" Don shouted back pointing his sword at him.

"How do you expect anyone to ever forgive you after your treason and deceit? After all the sacrifices people had made for you, you stab them in the back, and let me ask Don, what have you sacrificed?" Daimyo asked angrily.

"You have no idea what I've sacrificed!" Don shouted loudly and again, his voice echoing in the arena.

"You have no idea what sacrifices I made to ensure the safety of both Sunagakure and Konahagakure! You don't know the kind of pain I've had to endure over the years for the sake of my homes! In the end, I lost everything and everyone I loved! It's the price I had to pay, so don't talk to me about sacrifice!"

Don then exited the stadium leaving it in silence behind him.


	33. Ch 33 An Unforgotten Past

Ch. 33 An Unforgotten Past

Note: The OC, Mie Ochina is not my character. I have been allowed to use her for the progression of my story.

As Don exited the arena, a gentle wind picked up scattering the sands and brushing his hair against his battered face only to quickly die down a few seconds later as a feint sound of wind chimes rang from the silence. The presence of another was behind him at the entrance, haunting yet somber as if a ghost was gliding across the ground behind him.

Don could feel the strange presence of someone behind him. He slowly turned around to see who it was but found himself alone at the entrance of the arena. A breeze swept gently through and had a soothing feeling to it as it touched his body. It had a familiar warmth to it.

He meekly continued to walk out of the tunnel entrance when he was stopped by a sorrowful womanly voice, which called out to him. "What is it you seek in this world?"

Don smiled weakly, "Repentance."

After a moment, a figure materialized into view, having released a genjutsu to keep themselves hidden. Slowly it began to rain as this happened, now standing by the entrance was a woman in her early thirties. Long silky black hair with shadows of her bangs covering her face as if to hide shame because of its low angle. A red umbrella was positioned diagonally over her shoulder and held onto with both hands, this only allowed her to not be drenched by the rain. Her body was hugged tightly, showing her womanly figure inside a pink kimono tied by a blue sash with the emblem of the Ochina clan, stitched to the back. Taking a look at her gave the first impression of a shell of a former human who no longer inhabited it.

"Mie?" Don asked, "Is that you?"

Mie stood there for a moment as she smiled weakly, halfway empty and halfway in pride. "You've grown... Don."

"It's been a while. I'm happy to see another familiar face, and even happier to see one with eyes which aren't filled with hatred towards me." he said sounding slightly sad but relieved.

"Unfortunately... I'm not long with this world, my time here is up, but this isn't about me..." She dropped her smile, even with her new appearance that treats her more as a woman than a rogue, there was still unhappiness about her.

"What is it Mie? Tell me." he said concerned.

"You still have some time to mature. There's no need to attack yourself for the mistakes you've made. In the end, none of you deserve to end up like I have. You're a good man... you must realize that, and tend to what's cherished in your heart. Stray from the footsteps I left on my journey."

Don looked down and frowned. A tear trickled down his face. "That's why I'm trying so hard to repent. I've lost so much already and I want to prove I'd do anything to get it back..."

"I know you can. I wouldn't doubt it, though, you have to confront these things and fight harder than you have before to set things right. I know that's what that girl Sachiko would want." She adjusted the umbrella and dropped a hand as she approached him. She lifted her head for a moment, revealing he soft blue eyes as she smiled once more before leaning in and pecking his cheek. She grabbed onto her umbrella again and stepped back taking a brief pause.

A few more tears fell down Don's face, "At this point, I don't know if I will ever see Sachiko again..." starting to sniffle a bit.

"Don't lose sight of your values. Using that strength will provide your shining light in this world of darkness. I can only hope you all are shining brilliantly enough to scare the darkness away." The winds picked up once more as the feint chines sounded again. "Good-bye Don." Mie said as she faded away into the dying breeze.

"Mie, wait!" he said as he picked up his head when he felt the strong breeze sweep out the tunnel only to see Mie had vanished. Don clinched his fists and slowly headed for the gates of the village to be alone.


	34. Ch 34 In the Sand

Disclaimer: Any new characters in this chapter aren't mine, the only character I own is the OC, Don.

Ch. 34 In the Sand

Don lay in the sand with the sun beating down on his wasted body. He didn't mind because it was the warmest thing he had felt in a long time. A figure then cast a shadow over him and an all too familiar voice of the past spoke.

"You're so dead." a boy Don's age, black hair and blue eyes wearing Kage robes, said.

"We haven't seen each other for years and the first thing you tell me is I'm a dead man? Show some respect." Don replied looking up at his old rival and teammate Kazuki Ochina.

"Respect? I have no respect for deserters like you. If it weren't for me making a promise to not kill you during this encounter, I would have done it before you even knew I was here." Kazuki said.

"And to who did you make such a promise to?" Don asked curiously.

"Sachiko, but it was more or less because I was in a good mood when she asked me. I'm merely here to deliver a some information Sachiko wants you to know. I know you are equally as shocked that she would come to me of all people but as she explained, for something this big, she had no other choice." Kazuki replied.

"Oh really? What is it that is so important that she came to you and didn't come to me herself?" Don asked with skepticism.

"Well, before I say so, let me reiterate, you're so dead, especially when Sensei finds out." Kazuki said smirking.

"What does this have to do with Sensei?" Don asked.

"Tch, dumb ass. Don, Sachiko is pregnant." Kazuki said bluntly.

There was an abrupt moment of silence and Don's heart stopped beating and his body now went numb with shock. "...What?" he said shocked.

"Sensei is going to kill you! Well, I take that back. That's assuming Drake doesn't get his hands on you first." Kazuki said laughing.

"Drake? …..Sachiko's father?" Don said with his face turning pale. "You know what, just kill me now, I don't mind."

"Yep, God save the traitor!" Kazuki said laughing walking off leaving Don to his thoughts.

Don lay for hours thinking about what to do; thinking about what was yet to come. He finally felt some of this strength return to him and he got up to return to the room.

Eventually, he made it to the room and stood outside the door. A knock which came from the door echoes through the room. After a moment, the door was opened up a crack and Sachiko's eyes could be seen glaring at Don.

"What is it?" she said in a foul yet tired tone.

"I don't really know where to begin..." Don said.

"Well then come back when you do, or better yet, how about never." she said slamming the door shut.

"Wait, Sachiko!" Don said as he got down on his knees. "I'm sorry. I came here to try and fix things between us. I love you, and I know I made a lot of mistakes in the past. I've payed a heavy price for everything I've done up until now. Please, forgive me. I don't want to lose you..."

The door opened up all the way and Sachiko stood before Don. "Get up, you look pathetic." She said offering him a hand up.

Don grabber her hand and stood up and hugged her tight, "I love you." he said.

Sachiko just grunted and the two walked inside the room. Don glanced over at the couch. On it was a pillow, a blanket and a note that said, "For inconsiderate fathers".

"Before you ask, you're sleeping on the couch until I say so. I forgive you, but you are still worse than scum in my eyes." Sachiko said.

Soon after Don and Sachiko entered the room, another knock came from the door.

Don walked over to the door to answer it. Standing in front of him was Sachiko's father, Drake. All the color in Don's face drained until he was pale white.

"Son?" Drake said in a serious tone with an intense look from his eyes.

"Sir." Don said letting him in.

"Daddy?" Sachiko said sounding surprised.

"Princess!" Drake shouted happily.

Sachiko ran up to her father and hugged him tightly. "What are you doing here?" she asked happily.

"I was in town and heard you were here so I decided to drop by and pay my favorite daughter a visit." he replied. He then glanced over her shoulder and looked at the couch. "Who's sleeping on the couch?" he asked.

Don's eyes widened remembering the note that was on the couch.

"Don." Sachiko giggled with the most devilish grin on her face.

Drake turned his attention back to Sachiko giving Don enough time to stealthily dispose of the note Sachiko had put on the couch.

"I take it he did something bad?" he asked with his smile subsiding to a more serious face.

"Very bad." she giggled glaring at Don from the corner of her eyes causing Don's heart to race in anxiety.

Drake glared over at Don and then back at Sachiko, "He didn't get you pregnant did he?"

Don's heart stopped and he froze in fear when he asked that.

"Even if he did, you wouldn't kill the father of your grandchild would you?" she giggled again.

Drake pulled out a cigar and lit it up then blew out some smoke, "I might, but if I didn't, he could say goodbye to his balls."

Don broke out in a cold, nervous sweat unable to breath.

"Don't worry daddy, I'm not pregnant. If he did that, I'd beat him senseless." Sachiko said.

Drake looked over at Don, who was desperately trying to keep his cool, "I sense a lot of fear coming from you Don. You better hope you never get my little girl pregnant or it's your life you'll be losing."

"Y-Yes sir." he said nervously.

Drake glared at him and then went back to Sachiko, "Well, I have to run. Tell your mother I said hello."

Sachiko hugged her father one more time and he picked her up and twirled her around before walking out the door. "Bye daddy!" she said as he left.

Don took a sigh of relief.

"You're welcome, by the way." Sachiko said looking at Don with a scowl starting to reemerge on her face.

"You welcome? You just scared the shit out of me! I thought I was going to die!" Don said.

"Consider it a merciful punishment. If you hadn't stepped up to the plate to say you were sorry, I would have told my dad about being pregnant and let him hunt you down and have his way with you." she replied.

Don looked down, "Thank you, Sachiko..."

Sachiko smirked and walked past him heading to her room to shower and go to bed.

Don showered as well and changed into his pajamas. He laid on the couch and started to get comfortable when all of a sudden, smoke began to fumigate from under the couch.

"What the...?" Don said to himself.

A few seconds later a few explosive tags went off sending Don flying up into the air and hitting the ceiling.

Sachiko heard the blast from her room and giggled.

Don fell back onto the couch and fell unconscious for the rest of the night.


	35. Ch 35 A New Chapter

Ch. 35 A New Chapter

Months had past, Don was able to conquer the chunin exams and get promoted. His eyes then were set on becoming a jonin but at the same time he was busy with preparing to become a father. Since Don was expecting to become a father, life for him and Sachiko became more difficult in the village. It was viewed that an offspring of a traitor was better off dead and the whore who carried his offspring. Still, it was too early for Don to earn the village's forgiveness. After the chunin exams however, he felt the village as a whole began to lighten up on him some. It must have been what he said after his match with Daimyo which sparked some curiosity and maybe shed a little light on his motives for what he did.

"Don..." Sachiko said wrapping her arms around Don gently.

"Yes Sachiko?" Don replied.

"When are you going to be accepted as a sand shinobi again?" she asked innocently.

Don sighed, "I've told you, I don't know."

"I know... I just keep hoping it will be soon. I want our baby to be born in Suna, she's expected in about five months." Sachiko replied.

"That would be nice." Don replied.

She smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek, "I'm going to go for a stroll, it's such a beautiful day."

"Mind if I come?" Don asked.

"No, you stay here and rest. You've been training hard all morning. You need to take it easy or you will burn yourself out." she scalded.

"A simple walk isn't going to kill me..." he said trying to get up but stumbling with pain, "Ok, maybe you're right. My body doesn't want me moving. Just be careful ok?" he said as he made his way to the couch and laid down.

"Of course I will." she said smiling back at him.

Hours past and Sachiko hadn't come home yet and it was getting dark.

"Where is Sachiko?" Don wondered. He then began to feel worried and rushed out the door. When he opened the door Sachiko was standing in front of him covered in blood and tears crying. She fell forward and Don caught her.

"Sachiko, are you alright?" he shouted.

"No! I was ambushed by a mob on my walk. They threw things at me and beat up on me. I tried to protect the baby as best I could but there were so many of them! I couldn't defend myself against them all! I managed to escape but, Don, I'm so worried about our baby! I hope she's alright!" she cried.

Don carried her over to their bedroom and laid her down. "Stay right here, I'm going to get Tsunade." he said rushing out the house.

After a short while, Don returned with Tsunade to treat her wounds and check up on the baby.

"Well, the good news is the baby is unharmed. You should consider yourselves lucky considering the amount of wounds Sachiko sustained. I'll look further into the matter and find out who did this. Though for now, for your own protection, I suggest you don't go anywhere by yourselves, especially you Sachiko." Tsunade said as she left the house.

Sachiko began to cry again relived the baby was safe and she hugged Don tight. "Don, I can't stand it anymore. I can't stand this place anymore, I hate this village, I want to leave!"

"Sachiko, you know we can't do that..." Don replied, "Even if we did, where would be go?"

She looked up at him with a serious face, "Suna..."

Don froze when he heard her answer, "You know as well as I they wouldn't allow us to go there. We'd be killed if I returned there." he replied.

"We both die either way, but at least you have friends in Suna who'd take care of us..." she replied looking down.

Don said nothing as he tucked her in bed and kissed her goodnight. He walked out the room to go sit on the couch to think. He then grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and began to write a letter.

It was a letter addressed to Gaara, "Please allow Sachiko to move to Suna and provide her with protection and care. Please allow it even if it means increasing my debt to you and the village and prolonging my return. Konaha is no longer safe and I can't trust anyone here anymore. -Don"

When he was finished, he attached it to a messenger hawk and prayed for the best outcome. Days later, Don got his reply. Sachiko and Sachiko alone was allowed to move to Suna, as a result, his debt to Suna was increased and his return prolonged. She was to live with Rain until living accommodations where established.

When reading the response, Don had felt accomplished but also sad because he'd be separated from the girl he loved for an unknown amount of time, but it was for the better. He then walked into their room and saw Sachiko was taking a nap. He gently shook he and whispered in her ear.

"Sachiko, baby, wake up." he said gently.

She groaned having been disturbed, "Can't you see I'm trying to sleep, Don?"

"It's time for you to pack your bags, we're leaving." Don said.

"For where?" she asked sleepily.

"For Suna..." he said realizing he'd have to tell her he was only escorting her and not actually staying.

"Really?" She said jumping out of bed and began packing quickly. After a few moments she dropped what she had and turned to him. "Wait... if we are both going to Suna, that means they accepted you back right? This quickly?"

Don looked at her trying to hold back his raw emotion. He took a deep breath, "I made arrangements to get you sanctuary in Suna. I'm only going to be your escort. Until they find you a house to live in, you will be living with Rain... I'm sorry, but I won't be living with you in Suna..."

"No! If you aren't coming with me, then I will stay!" she said running up to him teary eyed.

"Don't be unreasonable, think of the baby! I did this all for you! I'm prolonging my return to Suna so I can keep you and the baby safe. I've already been promised your safety in Suna! You will be taken care of over there. Please... Sachiko..." Don said getting down on his knees. "I'm begging you, please live in Suna until I return. I couldn't bear to see you hurt again. After the other day... all those cuts and bruises and the thought of out baby being hurt. I don't want to ever go through that again." he said sadly.

Tears trickled down Sachiko's face as she punched Don in the mouth. She then knelt down with him and kissed him deeply. "You always have to make the biggest decisions don't you?" She said softly as she caressed his face. "Then again, it's not like you have always had much of a choice have you?"

Don stood up, "I'll help you pack." he said going through the closets to gather her clothes and other belongings.

After carefully packing Sachiko's belongings, Don put on a black cloak and escorted Sachiko out of the village and carrying her belongings. After a few days of travel, the walls of Sunagakure could finally be seen in the distance. When they reached the gates, Rain and Gazu were waiting for them, beside them, two ANBU.

"My mission ends here." Don said as he turned around to return to Konaha.

"Don, wait..." Sachiko said turning around to stop him.

"Yes?" he said facing her.

She wrapped her arms around him and gave him one final kiss not knowing when they'd be reunited, "Please come home soon. I'll be waiting for you."

Don smiled and walked away.

When Don returned to Konaha, he was approached by and ANBU agent.

"Don't you guys have anything better to do than pester me every other five seconds?" Don asked.

"The Hokage has requested your presence immediately." the agent replied.

"Fine, I'll go. Now get out of my sight, you guys annoy me, take a vacation, get out a little. Just leave me be." Don said.

"Forgive me for actually doing my job." the agent said disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

"Hey! What the hell is that supposed to mean!" Don shouted unable to get an answer.

Don walked down the streets towards Tsunade's office. When he arrived outside her door, he froze.

"Something doesn't feel right..." he said, as he took a step back, a chair broke through the door leaving a gaping hole in it.

"Get the hell out of here you useless pieces of scum, don't ever show your faces in here again!" she hollered as a couple of men bolted out her office. When she saw Don, he expression became calm, "Ah, Don, nice to see you are back, please take a seat."

Don casually walked into her office and sat down. Tsunade was not facing him, the back of her chair to him.

"I'm sure you want to know why I called you here?" she asked.

"Not really, I'm assuming it's just to check up on me, see how my mission went with escorting Sachiko out the country?" he asked.

"No, it's something much bigger than that..." she said taking a big sigh. "Look, let me just cut to the chase. I'm not going to be around forever and the village is going to one day need someone to replace me..." she started.

"I see where this is going and the answer is no. There is no way in hell that I will become Hokage. Have you forgotten why I'm even here? Have you forgotten what my goals are? I don't want to live here, let alone lead this place. I want to go home to Suna where I belong." Don interrupted her.

Tsunade twirled around in her chair to face him and glared at him, "As I much expected. But Don, let me ask you something, how will you know when you will be able to return to Suna?" she asked him.

"When I'm ready!" he replied.

"Ready? How will you know when you will be ready?" she asked him.

"I..." he began but fell silent.

"I'm offering you a chance of a lifetime, something to fall back on, in case the worst happens." she said.

"And that is?" he asked.

"You never return to Suna at all." she said in a serious tone.

There was a few moments of silence then Don spoke up, "I'll be willing to take that risk. Besides, why me? What makes me fit to be Hokage?"

"Every Hokage has had one thing in common, they've all gambled everything they had for the sake of the village. I can't think of anyone who's done that more than you." Tsunade replied.

"That's a load of bull, you're just taking pity on me. Give the offer to Naruto or someone who is more liked by the mob, how could you expect a traitor and deserter like me to lead a country full of people who hate me?" Don replied.

"Ever since the chunin exams, more and more people here are beginning to see the truth about you. Yes, they are beginning to forgive you but yet they still remain skeptical about your loyalty. If you were Hokage and showed them what you could do..." she said.

"No, I refuse. I'm not going to become Hokage. This village isn't a part of my plans. I don't want to live here and I sure as hell don't want to die here." Don replied.

"Very well Don, I will just find someone else if you feel that strongly about it." Tsunade said, "You are dismissed."

As Don got up, she added one last remark, "You would have made for a great Hokage."

"I know, but I wouldn't be happy. I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I love Suna too much to abandon it for a chance to be the most powerful person of a country..." Don said leaving.

Tsunade watched him leave wit ha smirk on her face. She opened up her drawer and looked at his glove Gaara had give her for safekeeping. "You've just proven yourself one step closer to your goal Don."


	36. Ch 36 Back to the Shadows

Ch. 36 Back to the Shadows

Don sat on a stump in the pouring rain, the sky pitch black like his soul. Tears ran down his face and rage filled his glare as he looked down at his ANBU mask, the same one which he had received from Tsunade almost a year ago. He placed the mask on his face and disappeared into the night.

A few days before, Don had received the letter which he had been most anticipating. It had been five months since Sachiko had been transferred to Suna for safekeeping and the baby was going to be expected soon. At last Don was a father, the father of a beautiful baby girl. Her name had already been picked out for her, her name was to be Natsuki.

Don was overwhelmed with happiness since he read that he was a father. It seemed like his life was beginning to be on the rise. With Sachiko and Natsuki waiting for him in Suna, he was more anxious to return to Suna.

The next day, all Don's happiness came crashing down on him. Don was sitting in Tsunade's office talking to her about an assortment of things when a carrier ninja appeared in the office.

"Pardon the intrusion Lady Tsunade, but I have urgent news from our allies in Suna." the ninja said.

"What is it?" Tsunade said giving the ninja her full attention.

"Suna was attacked by a band of rogue ninja. They nearly destroyed half the village and they said they won't stop until the whole village is destroyed. They're requesting assistance." the ninja replied.

Don's eyes widened and he bolted from his chair and held the ninja by his shirt, "What about Sachiko and Natsuki, are they ok? Were they harmed? Answer me damn it!" Don yelled.

"I don't know sir. No one told me." the ninja replied.

Don shoved the ninja away violently causing him to hit the wall, "Then you better find out!" Don said with rage in his eyes.

"Don calm down, I know you have reason for concern, but you have to trust that Suna did their job of keeping her safe." Tsunade said.

Don turned around and glared at her, "I'm not leaving anything up to chance. If I lose the two of them, I might as well die." Don said storming out Tsunade's office.

Two days later, intelligence reported that Sachiko was nowhere to be found after the attack. They found a pool of her blood where she was last seen. Natsuki was safe and was currently in the care of her godfather, Gazu. He was relieved to an extent the baby was safe, but he couldn't help but cry that Sachiko was missing and also presumed to be dead.

Tsunade looked up as Don walked into her office with death in his eyes. "Those bastards said they wouldn't stop until Suna is destroyed, right?" Don asked.

"Yes." she replied.

"Good, because I want them there so I can kill them. I volunteer myself to handle this situation, alone." Don said.

"Don be stupid, these ninja managed to not only defeat Suna's defenses but destroy about half the village. What makes you think you will be able to take them on by yourself?" Tsunade said.

"I want blood, no one has ever seen me at my full power and when I meet those bastards, it might be the first time you will see me at my most powerful." Don said.

Tsunade looked into Don's eyes and a chill was sent down her spine as a penetrating aura came from him. She then smirked at him. "You always seem to come in at the right time when I have a plan." she said.

"What do you mean?" Don asked.

"My plan was to send a team of ANBU out to handle the situation, one of those ANBU being you. I still plan on it. Don, I know you could probably handle the job yourself but I too, am not leaving anything to chance." she replied placing his old ANBU mask on the table. It was a bear mask with three claw marks on the left cheek.

"This isn't an order, but an offer. You put the mask on, you will once again join the ranks of the ANBU but as a result, you will also carry out missions that I give to you, real missions." Tsunade said.

Don hesitated, grabbing the mask off her desk he walked out. The sky has quickly grown dark and as lightning cracked the sky, rain began to pour heavily upon the village. Don went to one of the training grounds and sat on a stump. He stared down at the mask with tears coming from his eyes of anger. Putting on the mask, he disappeared. Behind a tree watching him, Tsunade stood.

"Follow him." She said as two other ANBU agents followed him, one of them wearing a wolf mask.

It was the dead of night and the band of rogue ninja stood outside the village gates staring down the sand ninja who were able to stand to defend it. Not all of them were in the best condition to fight. The bandits just smirked and within seconds, they plowed through Suna's defenses into the village itself.

People were running and screaming about trying to find refuge as the bandits resumed their destruction of the village. After about thirty minutes, only one section of the village was left standing and those who could were flocking there along with other ninja who were escorting them.

Gazu was one of the ninja who was making sure the last few refugees made it to the last section of the village. Rain, who was holding Natsuki, was close by him and fleeing with the rest of the refugees. In the distance, clouds of smoke that burst into the air from explosion gave the sign that the bandits were getting closer and it wouldn't be long before they did.

A few minutes after everyone made it safely to the only part of the village left standing, the bandits surrounded the perimeter. Their leader stood a few meters from Gazu smirking at him.

"Prepare to die sand brat." he said.

"Go to hell!" Gazu said summoning his puppets and preparing to fight off the bandit leader.

"After I've kill you, I'll kill everyone here, starting with that girl holding that baby who's standing behind you." the leader replied.

"We'll just see about that." Gazu said glaring at the leader.

The leader pulled a great ax which was strapped to his back. In the blink of an eye he swung it cutting deep into Gazu's side and sending him flying into a building and becoming buried in a pile of rubble and blood.

"Gazu!" Rain shouted with tears forming. She held onto Natsuki tight as the bandit leader approached her.

"As promised, you're next." the man said. He raised his ax in the air to execute her when all of a sudden a black streak zoomed over him. A moment later the bandit leader's head fell to the ground.

The other bandits were shocked and confused, with their leader having been struck down so easily without warning, they now become afraid and panicked.

"Let's get out of here!" one bandit said, but as they all turned around to runaway, they all were sliced up by the black streak which could be seen zooming back and forth between each bandit.

Rain stood shocked, as did everyone else when the shadowy figure came into light. A lone, male, ANBU with a bear mask stood before them, yet something was unusual about this ANBU. His breathing was heavy like he was some kind of beast and his arms were thick with fur. The hands had razor sharp claws which were stained with blood; a clear sign this was the weapon used to kill the bandits. The ANBU's breathing became calmer as he became more human like. Rain took a step back as the ANBU looked over at Rain taking much interest of her, or who she was holding. The ANBU took a step forward.

"Stay back you monster!" Rain said, however the ANBU calmly advanced.

When the ANBU stood right in front of Rain, he looked down at the baby she was holding. As much as Rain wanted to do something, she was too frozen in fear to move. The ANBU stroked Natsuki's hair and caressed her cheek. As he turned around, a couple of tears couple be seen falling out from behind the mask.

"Daddy will be home as soon as he can..." he said as he disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

Rain heard the ANBU say something but couldn't fully understand them. After the ANBU was gone, she went to dig for Gazu who was buried in the rubble. Fortunately he was still alive but because of his blood loss, he was on the verge of death.

"I need a medic over here!" Rain shouted with tears in her eyes trying so hard no to break down crying.

A medical ninja treated Gazu's wounds but it was only to seal his wounds. He would still need to be brought to a hospital for further recovery.


	37. Ch 37 The Decision

Ch. 37 The Decision

A group of four sat around a large oak tree keeping cool from its shade. There were two girls, one boy, and one adult male.

"Sensei, why do you keep turning down the council's decree for you being Hokage?" one of the girls said.

"Because I have other ambitions, those which don't involve becoming Hokage." he young man replied.

"But Don sensei, you've been picked for Hokage for the past five years now, do you know how many people would kill to be picked?" the boy said.

Don took a deep breath and sighed, "Mizu, Tochi, Ki..."

His students looked at him with full attention.

"I'm not going to be around forever. When you guys become chunin, my remaining time in this village will start coming to an end." he said.

Ki looked at Don curiously, "What do you mean sensei?" he asked.

"Do you remember all those incredible stories I told you guys about that friend of mine?" Don asked.

"Yeah, the one who ran away from Konaha, became a sand ninja, and then did some crazy stuff and betrayed Konaha and Suna to 'protect them'?" Mizu asked.

"Yes, the very same person." Don said.

"What about him?" Tochi asked.

Don smirked expecting the worst, "That man was me. That man is me."

There was a long silence and his students' eyes went wide with shock.

"Think what you will, but everything I said was true. I had my reasons. My goal is to return to Suna where I belong. I just haven't gotten the feeling it's the right time yet." Don said.

"I refuse to believe that my master is the same scum bag who betrayed everyone he ever cared about!" Ki getting up furiously.

Don looked at Ki, "This isn't a matter of belief, it's a matter of fact. A fact which you will just have to come to terms with." he said in a serious tone.

Ki glared at Don and then ran off into the woods.

Don sighed, "I'll go have a talk with him. Ladies, y'all are dismissed for the day. Go enjoy yourselves." He then got up and followed after Ki.

Don finally caught up with Ki who was lashing out at a tree.

"No matter how hard you punch that tree, it doesn't change the past. It doesn't change who I am." Don said.

Ki stopped and glared at his sensei, "I really looked up to you, and to find out that my master is a piece of shit who didn't think twice about turning his back..." he was cut off by Don punching him in the face and sending him straight into the dirt.

"And maybe someone who looked up to me so much would have some compassion and understanding! I've paid the price for my actions of the past, but I can't run away from who I was and who it's made me now. Ever since day one of being readmitted here, I've been working on trying to set things right, to repair the damage I've caused. I don't care, if at this point, you hate my guts for knowing the truth, but you will show me respect because I am still your sensei!" Don said with an intense glare looking down at Ki.

Ki glared back at Don as Don walked off.

As Don walked back to his home, he was stopped by an ANBU. "Come with me." he said. Since Don could tell it was something important, he complied with the ANBU's demand.

Don was led to the village headquarters where we was then led to a conference room. When Don entered, it was nearly pitch black and only a table full of silhouettes.

"Sit down, Don. Make yourself comfortable." an elderly voice said.

Don sat down at the head of the table and glared at the silhouettes. "What is this about?" he asked.

"This is about your continuous refusal of the position Hokage. When this council selects a person for that position, it's expected of that person to comply." the voice said.

"Aw, well I'm sorry I hurt your feelings for refusing to become your slave. I have plans that don't involve becoming a puppet for a bunch of old farts who can't tell a sand ninja from a leaf ninja." Don said boldly.

"You little bastard! How dare you talk to us that way! We could have you banished from the village for that!" another voice said.

"Then go ahead! What are so afraid of? I'm going to be leaving anyway." Don replied loudly. A few moments of silence passed over. "Ah, but you won't. You bastards are still trying to find a way to use me for your own hidden agenda. To hell with all of you!" Don said rising from his chair.

"Your lover Sachiko and your daughter, Natsuki, was it? They are the only reason why you are determined to return to Suna, are they not? If we took them out of the equation, you'd have to stay in Konaha, you'd have no other reason to return to that sandy shit hole." the elder said.

Don glared at the silhouettes with boiling anger, "If you dare lay a finger on Sachiko and Natsuki, I will kill each and every one of you in cold blood. I will show you no mercy and I will not care what consequences will follow me exacting my revenge upon you all."

The room fell silent once again, "Very well, you are dismissed." the elder said. Don got up and left the room.

"What do we do now?" an elder asked.

"Simple, we go through with our plan. We will show Don no to undermine us."

Don returned home and sitting at the dining room table, wrote a letter to Sachiko telling her what happened. When she replied, she said that Suna would be on higher alert now in case something were to happen. Among other things, Don asked about Natsuki. Sachiko was happy to report that Natsuki was going well at the academy. However, the instructors were having problems with her beating up on the male students and having random bursts of energy and summoning trees everywhere. When Don read about it, all he could do is laugh himself to tears. Tears of joy but sadness. Natsuki was going to be five years old soon and he hadn't seen her since she was born. Five years that she has never seen her father in person.

Almost a year had past since Don's confrontation with the elders. The chunin exams were finally here. This year, the exams were to be held in Konaha and this year was going to be the year that Don would be able to see Sachiko and Natsuki for the first time in five years.

Don waited by the village gates waiting to see Natsuki and Sachiko among the Suna crowd, however they did not appear. Don did catch sight of Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro walking together. When the three caught sight of Don, Gaara gave them a look which told them to move on ahead.

"Hey guys, welcome back. Have you..." Don began.

"Don, we need to talk." Gaara said pulling him off to a side alley.

Don looked confused, "What's up? Is something wrong? Where's Sachiko and Natsuki?"

"Don..." Gaara began. "There's no easy way to say this..."

Don grabbed Gaara by the shirt lifting him up some, "What happened to them?" he said angrily.

"It happened just last night. Someone sneaked into the village undetected, they kidnapped Sachiko. There were signs of a major struggle, and while Natsuki made it out alive, but with severe bruises..." Gaara said.

"What happened to Sachiko?" Don roared with his temper beginning to shorten and his breathing becoming more animal like.

"We don't know. All we know is that she was kidnapped and managed to prevent Natsuki from being taken. I have everyone looking for her. Rain and Gazu are watching over your daughter while she recovers. Though, Don, you do have to consider the possibility that Sachiko is dead..." Gaara said.

Don stepped back with his face pale. "I can't believe those bastards actually did it. After I told them they'd all be killed." he then chuckled with an insane look. "Those old bastards are going to pay. Each and every one of them. I will drag them all down to hell with me!"

Gaara looked at Don shocked. "Who are they?" he asked.

"The village elders, they threatened to kill Sachiko and Natsuki if I didn't become Hokage. Well guess what, they want to play chess with me, I'll play chess! They've taken my Queen, but now they are about to feel the full wrath of the King!" Don said furiously.

"What do you plan on doing then?" Gaara asked.

"I'm going to be Hokage." Don replied.


	38. Ch 38 Rescuing the Queen

Ch. 38 Rescue the Queen

Don patiently sat in his office filling out paperwork, he had only held the position of Hokage for a month and he was already beginning to regret his decision. However, the picture sitting on his desk of Sachiko holding Natsuki in her arms was there to remind him why he would have to temporarily endure this hardship.

Shikamaru walked into Don's office. "I'm here like you requested Don." he said with a grim tone.

"Thank you for coming all the way out here on such short notice. Those old bastards have me busy with Hokage duties, I haven't been able to get down to business lately." Don replied.

"Why is it exactly that you called me out here for?" Shikamaru asked.

"Don't you find it a bit strange that a person like me would become Hokage?" Don asked looking directly into Shikamaru's eyes with a smirk on his face.

"You called me all the way from Suna to ask me this question? Do you realize how troublesome this is, Temari didn't want me to leave, it was nearly impossible to convince her to let me leave the hou..." he began to say only to be cut off.

"Just answer the question. I didn't ask for your petty excuses." Don snapped.

"Honestly yes. I find it peculiar that all of a sudden you chose to be Hokage, especially after you swore you'd work your way back into Suna. Temari was pissed when she got the news. I'm surprised Gaara wasn't as angry." he replied.

"To make a long story short, I'm playing a chess game and right now, I'm short one queen and have no other pieces on the board to play with and I'm up against a full chess army." Don said.

"What are you talking about?" Shikamaru asked confused.

Don smiled, "Let's take a walk shall we?" he said rising from his seat.

Shikamaru rose from his seat as well and the two walked out his office and took a stroll around the village. Meanwhile, the clouds overhead became dark and trickles of rain began to fall upon them. Eventually Don led Shikamaru to his favorite spot in the village; the tree which he would always lay under during the day and sometimes at night. Once there, the rain began to truly fall on them.

Rain trickled down Dons face to hide some of the tears that trickled down the side of his face as well. "Those old bastards threatened to take Sachiko away from me if I didn't comply. I called them out thinking it was a bluff, I told them if they laid a finger on her, I'd kill them. I... It wasn't a bluff. They took Sachiko, I don't know where she is. She's been missing for a month." he paused and took a deep breath, "But I know you are aware of this. However that's not why I called you here, to tell you of my troubles. I have something more important to ask you..."

"Don, you can't possibly be asking me to take part in this? I'll be branded as a criminal!" Shikamaru said.

"I wouldn't dare ask you to kill those bastards for me. I want you as a source of intel. I'm already reaching out to my old squad mates from my ANBU days. I'm asking that you join my team. Help me find Sachiko and help me construct a plan to kill those guys who took Sachiko away. I don't care what happens next. I will fulfill my promise and kill them." Don said getting down on his knees begging him.

Shikamaru was silent for a few moments and then sighed, "It's all too troublesome, but, I'd be asking you the same thing if something happened to Temari, so you can count on me."

Don looked up at Shikamaru and smiled. "Thank you so much!" he exclaimed. Don got on his feet and smirked, "I have one more piece for my side of the chessboard. I'm confident by week's end, I will have everyone I need to accomplish my goal."

"I'll do what I can." Shikamaru said.

"One more thing." Don said.

"Yeah, what is it?" Shikamaru asked.

"We never had this conversation." Don said in a serious tone walking away.

Shikamaru nodded and walked away.

Don returned to his house and laid on his bed. In the darkness, in the silence, he watched the rain fall outside and listened to it as it beat down on his roof. "I'm going to find you Sachiko. I promise. I pray you are still alive. I will see to it personally that you are brought home safely." he said to himself.

From her cell, Sachiko picked up her head as she heard a loud explosion and the screams of terror. A loud roar echoed throughout the hideout she was in. She recognized that roar, when she heard it, tears fell down from her eyes. She had been held captive for months, she had been tortured and was hanging on for dear life.

The roar of the wild animal was getting closer, she jumped when the door was flung open and a familiar silhouette ran up to her and a warm pair of lips connected with hers.

Her chains were broken and she found herself picked up and carried in Don's arms.

She was too weak to say any words, all she could do was smile and cry tears of joy. She lifted her hand and stroked his cheek before passing out. When she awoke, she was in a hospital bed wrapped in bandages.

"Good morning, or should I say, good evening." Rain said smiling at Sachiko.

"Where's Don?" Sachiko asked sitting up.

"What do you mean? Don hasn't been seen since the chunin exams." she replied.

Sachiko though back to her rescue, "But, I was pretty sure... that was him." she said raising her fingers to her lips, "He kissed me, that feeling I got when his lips connected with mine. I'm sure it was him."

"The ninja who rescued you said they found you passed out in your cell. Maybe you were just dreaming." Rain said.

"Maybe..." Sachiko said.

Sachiko looked up as her daughter came running in the room and hugged her. She smiled and hugged her daughter back.


	39. Ch 39 Conclusion

Ch. 39 Conclusion

"This is it!" Don said. He and his four companions hid amongst the trees looking at a mansion that was placed off in the distance.

"If Shikamaru's intelligence is correct, they are in there." Don said.

"They will be. The elders always go on retreat this time of year and it's always to that mansion." Shikamaru replied.

"Remember, I want them all alive. Round them up and I will deal with them personally. We go in soft, and will leave soft." Don said.

A gentle breeze swept through the area. Guards who were patrolling dropped dead one by one as the breeze continued to drift through. Then out from the shadows, Don and his squad appeared.

A while later, Don stood before for the elders of the village. Each one of them bound and gagged to a chair. "So, you decided to call my bluff eh? Well, it's sad to say that I wasn't bluffing. I am keeping my promise. All of you are going to die tonight. I warned you bastards to leave Sachiko out of this, but you didn't listen. You may try to lie and say that y'all did, but I know the truth. I found the ninja you hired to attack Suna and to target Sachiko. They told me everything."

Don then gave a signal and everyone left the room. As the doors shut muffled screaming could be heard, after about an hour, the muffled screaming finally stopped.

A few days later and ANBU came to Don's office. "Sir, we have an issue."

Don looked at the ANBU agent, "What seems to be the problem?"

"The village elders were found dead in their retreat mansion this morning sir, in cold blood, no... it was worse than that. They were cut up to pieces, blood was everywhere. Just the thought of it makes me sick." the ANBU replied.

Don's eyes widened, he turned around in his chair pretending to be shocked. "Prepare a ceremony. We will honor our dead..." Don say burying his face in his hands. When the ANBU left, Don lifted his face from his hands to reveal a pleased and sinister look. He smirked.

Shikamaru then walked into Don's office. "Shikamaru reporting as ordered sir."

"Shikamaru, you're my friend, you don't have to call me sir." Don chuckled as he turned around to face him.

"Whatever you say Don. It is a bit of a drag to talk in formality all the time." he replied.

"You're telling me." Don replied smiling. "But anyway, getting to the main point. I have a mission for you. You're going to be a squad leader for a reconnaissance mission. I'm sending you to the land of rivers. I've been hearing about odd things happening there. I want you to go there and find out what those odd things are. Report back to me when you've gathered enough information. You leave today." Don said.

"Alright." Shikamaru said.

"Your two squad mates will be waiting for you at the village gate. Good luck." Don said.

"Thanks." Shikamaru said as he disappeared.

Weeks had gone by and Don had not heard from Shikamaru. This was unusual because it wouldn't have taken Shikamaru this long to complete such an easy mission. A messenger hawk arrived about mid day as Don was completing some paperwork. He opened the scroll attached to it's leg and read it. His whole body went numb when he saw what the message said. Shikamaru was dead. Everyone who was sent on the mission had mysteriously died. They were found dead out in the swamps being gnawed on by the alligators.

The next day Don got a knock from his door. "Come in" Don said and a ninja entered his office.

"Lord Hokage, you have a visitor." A shinobi said as he entered the office, bowed and presented his leader with news of a guest's arrival.

"Is it her?" he asked intently.

"Yes my Lord, it is her." He replied just as calm and intently as his leader.

He waved his hand aside. "Please, do let her in."

His assistant shinobi bowed and gave a signal to the guest to come in. A woman in her early thirties entered the office. She was a beautiful looking woman; blonde hair, bright eyes, and a curvy body to boot. She wore a black kimono and around her neck was a Sunagakure headband which was also black. The Hokage rose to his feet with the most serious disposition on his face.

"You may leave us now." He said to his assistant, which his assistant bowed with respect and left the two together.

"Greetings Lord Hokage." The woman said in a mild tone.

He looked back into her eyes and saw pain and the persistence to hold back how she was truly feeling. "Please, sit down. I want to talk to you." He gestured hospitably as so she sat down.

His life had finished flashing before his eyes. If he were to die here, what would he have accomplished? Nothing. He still had things to take of. Sachiko. They had been separated for so long and has drifted back to Temari. He had forgotten what his true calling was. His real reason for living. It was time to finish this, if he made it back a live, he'd return to Suna, to Sachiko and repair the damage he had caused. Don snapped back to reality, he jumped out the way to avoid the giant fireball that was shot at him. Before him stood the fire titan along with a very familiar face, like a ghost from the past.


End file.
